Apple iTunes to go to university!..

[octane]

These guys think so:

This blog reports on an unconfirmed rumor that Apple may be stepping up to negotiate with at least one college to provide iTunes Music service to their students.

According to the blog, Northeastern University "is negotiating to buy a predetermined number of downloads at the reduced rate from iTMS so that its students will be encouraged not to download songs off P2P networks."

So far Napster has found success in negotiating deals with universities to provide their unlimited streaming service for college students. Apple's iTunes does not share a similar flat-fee/unlimited access model, however, so its unclear how such a deal would be implemented.

 

[bobw]

Apple has already done this with at least one University.

 

[octane]

A lot of the analysts are wary of the sustainability of the iTunes + iPod business model.

But often this wariness of the future comes at the expense of seeing the successes of the model in the here & now.

The iPod Mini is flying off the shelves which is to be expected .. and this is _before_ Apple throw in the predicted sub-200 price tag.

Apple are coining it in right now, let them bathe in the accolades. I'm pretty sure Steve & Co. have learnt all of the valuable lessons from Apple past to be able to avoid the same gotchas in the future...