New iPhone apps classes let you learn, test and earn

— -- There's an app for just about anything, or so Apple says.

And colleges and universities across the country are taking notice, offering courses in programming iPhone applications to computer-related majors. The courses represent a new path of study for many colleges and universities recognizing the longevity of smartphones and social media, college professors say.

iPhone apps, short for applications, are single-purpose programs that allow users to do everything from read the news to play musical instruments. They are largely produced by independent programmers who pay a $99 fee to create, test and distribute — many times for profit — their app.

An iPhone Developer University Program launched last fall, however, allows qualifying colleges and universities to produce iPhone apps at no cost, spurring several institutions to offer a course in the technology.

Apple declined to comment on the number of schools participating, but they include Stanford and NJIT.

A 'big marketplace'

Stanford University is offering a course to 60 students taught by two Apple employees in app development technology. The university started the program last fall and expanded it for the spring semester.

"Students are really liking it," says teaching assistant Paul Salzman. "We have twice as many students apply as there are slots, so we distribute a survey and have to slim it down." The two Apple-employed lecturers declined to comment, as per an Apple company policy.

The information taught in the class is so popular, Salzman says, that the course is filmed and distributed at no charge on iTunes. The video downloads have prompted viewers around the world to create discussion boards and even a website based on the course.

"It's such a big marketplace," Salzman says. "It's a low entry fee — getting your app on the store is not that hard, there's not a big price — and then you have so many users that can get your application. So it's the current big thing, applications on the iPhone. And we're putting it within the reach of students."