From The Wired Campus, Feb. 27, 2008
Abilene Christian U. to Give iPhones or iPods to All Freshmen
Abilene
Christian University says it will be the first university in the
country to give iPhones or iPods to all incoming freshmen. Today the
university unveiled an elaborate news-media blitz on its Web site, including an online video showing a fictionalized account of how the university plans to use the devices for various services on campus.
The
900 students who will start at the university this fall will be given
the choice of an iPhone or an iPod Touch (which can connect to the
Internet via wireless networks but does not function as a cellphone).
In 2004 Duke University decided to give iPods to all of its first-year students. The move generated a high volume of publicity, but two years later the university scaled back the effort, so that only students in certain courses were given iPods (and then only as a loan rather than a gift). —Jeffrey R. Young