Apple 'Field Trips'

Apple has unveiled its latest campaign aimed at marketing to children, inviting teachers to bring groups of students to Apple Stores for a field trip. Some of the activities that the students will be guided through include creating photo albums, editing movies, building websites and making music, all on Mac computers. Apple will bring in specialists and trainers for the program, and provide free t-shirts as well as personalized invitations.

For kids that already have a Mac and want to showcase a creation, the Apple site claims they can "turn our [Apple] store into a theater, sharing their achievements with parents, teachers, and friends."

Another program the company already offers, "Apple Camp," allows kids to come in to Apple Stores for longer workshops that teach them how to make movies, music or slideshows.

Field Trips can be scheduled up to November 21st, which may be intended to put iPods and Macs into the hands of kids eager to make Christmas lists. In contrast to the Apple Camp workshops, the briefer nature of Field Trips may bring in a higher percentage of children that do not already own Apple's products.

Market share amongst teens has been an important contributing factor to Apple's success in the consumer electronics segment. Analyst firm Piper Jaffray released a report this week that showed strong growth for the company, with 22 percent of students planning to buy an iPhone in the next six months. The iPod increased its share with teens to 84 percent this year, and 93 percent of kids that legally download music are buying it on iTunes.

by MacNN Staff