Report: Apple to seed campuses with free iPod touches
Details of Apple’s 2008 back-to-school promotion have already leaked out and they sound like a smart way to spread interest in Steve Jobs’ growing family of hand-held wireless Internet devices.
According to both AppleInsider and MacRumors, the No. 1 incentive is a free 8GB iPod touch for any college student who purchases a qualifying Mac. That’s a $299 value to the student – in addition to the usual educational discount. Alternatively, according to AppleInsider, the student can apply $299 credit toward purchase of a higher-capacity player or, for whatever reason, settle for a $199 iPod nano (last year’s top incentive).
Qualifying Macs, according to MacRumors, include the MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac and Mac Pro.
The promotion, which runs from June 3 to Sept. 15 and is expected to be announced Tuesday, is particularly well-timed. Not only will it seed campuses with multi-touch devices that tend to be their own best advertisements – especially in environments rich with free Wi-Fi – but it will, as MacRumors points out, give developers getting ready for the 3G iPhone launch an even bigger installed base for their games and other apps.
And remember, although the device is worth $299 to the student, it costs Apple (AAPL) a whole lot less to build.
Time to get the the iTouch for cheap on ebay. Why not get the textbooks available for download on iTunes while they’re at it.
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Silicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
They are already doing that too…check out iTunes U