Cupertino, California: Apple says people have downloaded more than 1 billion items from iTunes U, which features free books, lectures and other information from schools, libraries and museums around the world. Apple Inc. said that there are now single iTunes U courses with more than 250,000 students enrolled in them. Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Internet software and services, calls this a “phenomenal shift in the way we teach and learn.”
Apple says more than 1,200 universities and 1,200 K-12 schools host courses on iTunes U. Stanford University in Palo Alto, California and The Open University, an online learning centre based in the UK, each had more than 60 million pieces of content downloaded. More than 60 percent of the iTunes U app downloads are outside the US.
Meanwhile, Apple, attempting to block a group lawsuit alleging it collected data from millions of customers’ mobile devices while they used applications approved by the company, said plaintiffs failed to prove their claims.
Lawyers for the customers asked US District Judge Lucy Koh at a hearing yesterday in San Jose, California, to designate the suit a class action. Apple argues the request should be denied because plaintiffs haven’t shown that any users had personal information collected by the free apps without their consent, and as a result, can’t show they suffered any harm, according to a court filing.
The customers’ attorneys have abandoned their damages claims because they can’t prove any injury, and are proceeding with the class-action request “in a desperate attempt” to recover fees, Apple argued in the filing.
The customers alleged in the complaint that Cupertino, California-based Apple collected data on their geographical locations through applications on mobile devices including iPhones and iPads even after they said they didn’t want to share the information.
