Student iPhones, Complete with Campus Mapping Apps

Back in the day, I believe it was Dartmouth that provided every freshman with a Mac. Now, several schools are handing out, or asking students to pony up for iPhones. Some even include custom apps:

The Abilene Christian University iPhones have an interactive map feature that can track the phone and give directions to the student’s next class.

This suggests two things to me:

(1) The blurring, as we mentioned on this week’s podcast, of the rational for such a device. While the schools are looking for interactivity in the classroom, there are also safety, social and in time business uses. Best start them on all of those early!
(2) The customization of the device for a particular user community. This is not a new idea, but often an effective one to jumpstart interest.

- From Tufts Daily (Tufts University) in the Llama Ledger (Simon’s Rock, greatest student newspaper name ever!)