“Abilene Christian University has adopted Google Apps and will pair them with free iPhones for students and faculty next fall,” Clint Boulton reports for eWeek.
“ACU will offer its faculty and about 900 incoming freshmen free Apple iPhones or Apple iPod Touches. ACU will foot the iPhone and service bill for its teachers, while students who choose the iPhone will have to pay for their service plans through AT&T,” Boulton reports.
“The iPhone offer is a great contract for Apple, but it could prove to be just as good for Google. The search vendor currently optimizes several applications, including search, Gmail and YouTube, for the iPhone,” Boulton reports.
“Take into account that more than 6,000 students and faculty have been using Google Apps for more than a year and Google with minimal effort will be able to acclimate thousands of people to its Apps on the iPhone,” Boulton reports. “‘A smart phone that doesn’t do e-mail or calendaring is pretty much a useless device,’ Abilene Christian University CIO Kevin Roberts said. ‘The fact that the iPhone is already optimized for Google is a huge win for us.'”
More in the full article here.
Can you edit Google docs on an iPhone? I was under the impression that you couldn’t.
Looks like the Christians realize that, Education is still with pens, pencils and paper. We don’t need computers floating around.
i just want new iphone hardware
I wonder what percentage of those freshmen will choose iPhone (and be saddled with the $850 annual phone bill, when you add all those taxes), over the ‘Touch’, since their life will revolve around the Wi-Fi-blanketed campus, so that connectivity won’t be an issue. If Skype comes the iPhone/Touch way (with a cheap 3rd party mic hardware dongle), they’d practically be carrying an iPhone without the $70 per month spending.
@Predrag,
You’re absolutely right about the iPod touch regarding Skype….
…well, except that you forgot that the touch is missing a couple of things that the iPhone has…like, a microphone.
bioness…. uh… the article would suggest exactly the opposite. (hint – the actually has a tiny, but real, computer inside)
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correction – bioness…. uh… the article would suggest exactly the opposite. (hint – the iphone actually has a tiny, but real, computer inside)
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to Gzero:
You must have missed the part in parenthesis (…”with cheap 3rd party mic hardware dongle”).
I’m not sure what other thing that the Touch is missing (beside the above-mentioned mic) could be required by Skype. If I’m not mistaken, microphones for the Classic (and previous iterations of Nano) aren’t all that expensive. As soon as the new OS is out, there will be a Belkin (most likely) dongle with the appropriate recording software. Skype should be following behind very closely.
Every one should see a video on the possible uses of the iPhone at ACU. It is in the iTunes U section and is called Connected. It is actually very interesting.
No wonder the cost of education keeps going up!
@ Jim – TIV,
You beat me to it.
@ Jim – TIV,
You beat me to it.
“Abilene Christian University has adopted Google Apps and will pair them with free iPhones for students and faculty next fall,” …..And the dish network is also giving away an iPod with a new account.
So if you move to Texas you can get a bad satellite service and a no-name degree…but hey you will have 2 iPods…
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Just my $0.02
so on the up side, free iPhone, on the downside, Texas and Christian University. like screaming “don’t need ya’alls fancy learnin” at the top of your lungs.
lemme guess, the “why darwin, all of modern biology, and your doctor are all wrong, and the world was made in a week, seriously, we have proof” class is all filled every semester, isn’t it?
@Predrag:
I don’t think the iPod Touch has bluetooth. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
@ Cubert – lol
@ Cubert… seriously.. lol
It’s amazing to me how intolerant and otherwise intelligence-insulting some of you (bioness and shen) are regarding others’ religious beliefs (real or imagined).
@just about everybody –
You need to watch the “Connected” video. I was dismissive of religious school in a red state. I was wrong. These folks get it big time. The video is a little sweet, but the ideas are great.
The iPhone has changed the world. We need to start running now, if we want to keep up.
@HazMatt – It’s probably because of the wrongs that have been brought down on America by religious organizations. A couple of examples:
1 Religious Right opposition to the most evangelical president ever, Jimmy Carter, because he refused to intervene in Justice Department prosecution of Liberty University’s tax exempt status because of the University’s racial discrimination.
2 Government employee Liberty University Law School graduates breaking of the law regarding Justice Department personnel to achieve conservative political goals.
Now, to paint all Christians and religious universities with a broad brush that makes them look the same as the bad Christian conservatives is wrong. But to assume that a person or organization is good just because they self identify as Christians is foolhardy.
shen
Don’t you ever get tired of being an asshole?
And don’t forget TCU, SMU, Baylor, E.T. Baptist, and a whole host of others that are funded by churches, but don’t require your soul.
lurker
Most conservatives, religious or not, didn’t and don’t like Jimmy Carter because he is an idiot, and he is proving it once again.
I admired him when he was elected, but my opinion of him drops (somehow) every time he steps back on the world stage.