University Of Missouri Makes iPhone Manditory Equipment In Poorly Disguised Marketing Ploy

May 11th, 2009 (11) Posted By Erik Wong.

iphone

Man I hate Apple. I went to a local Apple Store one time on request from Pat for some equipment, and the store wasn’t equipped to take cash as payment! Never mind that it is ILLEGAL to not accept legitimate legal tender, the kid had to call his manager over to figure out how to let me pay him because his stupid hip-mounted credit card reader wasn’t made to take cash. Give me a break.

AfterDawn.com: The University of Missouri’s journalism school has just added the iPhone/iPod Touch to the incoming Freshmen required supplies.

“Lectures are the worst possible learning format,” said Associate Dean Brian S. Brooks. “There’s been some research done that shows if a student can hear that lecture a second time, they retain three times as much of that lecture.”

Brooks did note however that theoretically any MP3 player could be used. “You could use a Zune, for example,” he noted.

Why Apple devices then? Simply because being so expensive could benefit students on financial aid.

“If it’s required, it can be included in your financial-need estimate,” Brooks added. “If we had not required it, they wouldn’t be able to do that.”

By having an Apple device however, it is easier to download the lectures, as it has a special section in the iTunes Store. “There are about 50 other schools across the country that are doing this,” he concluded.

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  • ken

    “Lectures are the worst possible learning format,” How about working on that pencil neck.

  • FLINT89

    Well he’s got a point. I mean I record all my lectures in case I miss something, but I didn’t have to go out and buy a freaking iPhone for it. It’s called use your laptop. If you don’t have that, spend $5 for one of those mini recorders at CVS. :mad:

  • KC

    I’m not shocked depending how high up the chain this was started with. Former failed CEO of Sprint (and former AT&T executive), Gary Forsee is now president of the University of Missouri System (centralized state university system).

    This is nothing more than a corporate kickback at a public university.

  • Mrs. Scoot

    Erik, how can you hate Apple? We have an iMac and we love it! No viruses, no adware, user friendly, no junk that Microsoft likes to put in their crap computers. The cash thing is stupid, but hell it was worth it. Besides the fact that Bill Gates and his wife are part of the Bilderberg group really turns me off too.

    I know this is a thinly disguised attempt at advertising, but I will never ever buy a PC product ever again.

    I guess I am being biased, but I can’t help it. :oops:

  • Monky3531

    The U.of Missouri is nothing short of a corporation that is heavily supported with public funding. Growing up in that town, but not there now thankfully, it has been amusing to watch the university suck money out of the students as well as the local population in new and creative ways over the past 20 years or so. Nothing but a bunch of crooks at that “school”

  • Brent Brentzel

    Erik, Apple rules. If it wasn’t for Apple there’d be no windows. And windows still sucks You’d still be using DOS (sp?)

  • Steve in NC

    I hate apple.

    The difference between apple and pc is the same between communism and capitalism.

    • DesignR

      :beer:

  • Erik Wong

    As far as computers go, yes Apple has many advantages over a PC. They are more stable, and much safer. The thing that I like about PCs however is they are fully customizable. There is nothing more satisfying then building a computer that would give The Pentagon penis envy out of spare parts, and saving a thousand dollars building it yourself as opposed to buying it.

    But home computer market aside, its everything else about Apple that I hate. iPods, iTunes, iPhones, the fact that Apple even once tried to trademark the lower case “i” so no other product could use it (iGo, iTapin, etc). They got laughed out of court for even thinking of trademarking a letter of the alphabet. Just like how Apple almost lost my business when I almost laughed(and yelled) my way out of their store for not taking cash. Its the stuff like that, in a nutshell the trend of it, that makes me hate Apple. I’d go further into detail, but this is not the right place nor time for such matters. :wink:

  • Sully0811

    Brent, you are wrong. Xerox invented the GUI, not apple. Apple founders took tech from the copier company to found apple.

    Also it’s the cult of personality surrounding the products that people despise.

    Some of us LIKED command line prompts, by the way. Snow, uphill, both ways. It built character.

    • JoeP2

      Sully0811 Quote: “Brent, you are wrong. Xerox invented the GUI, not apple. Apple founders took tech from the copier company to found apple.”

      Ummm, Sully, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Apple was founded over half a decade before they made a deal with Xerox for part of their graphical interface work. I guess you forgot about the Apple II, which preceded the Macintosh by quite a few years. Not to mention the fact that Apple expanded tremendously on the work done at Xerox.

      If you’re going to bash someone, it’s better to have actual facts.