Boston schools producing iPhone apps

Readers who went to college in the pre-App Store days will likely remember what it was like to receive a college brochure when they were shopping for schools. It was so exciting to thumb through the pages of a bright and colorful brochure which was printed on thick, glossy paper. In the next several years, these brochures will become obsolete. Gradually, schools will use an iOS app or other digital media to both compete for prospective students and engage current students.

BostInno, an online blog covering the city of Boston, took a look at iOS apps for several Bean Town colleges and universities including MIT, Babson, Berklee College of Music, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, and Northeastern. We won't spoil the fun and tell you which one BostInno likes best, but we will share their conclusion that many schools have a long way to go with their apps.

Apps offer many features over a static brochure, but many of the schools didn't leverage this advantage. The schools released apps that didn't engage users and were described as "boring." Some even had features, like a bus schedule, which just didn't work. Hopefully, these apps are early first efforts and will evolve as students begin to use them and offer suggestions for improvement.