My children have recently developed an Apple addiction, I’m afraid. They make me buy iTunes cards and manage to squander their pocket money on all kinds of nifty apps. And the worst thing is it’s even a little contagious. I admit to drooling over the next generation tablets myself these days. Apple seems to have gone beyond “product” and has become an icon which offers life enhancements. What do they have which drug spammers lack? Apple has reached a point of instant credibility. Any of its new projects is eagerly awaited like a rock-star concert. We react forgivingly to its annoying let-downs and shortcomings. Competing with Apple is like competing with a lifestyle: you can’t win. My question: can universities achieve the same kind of intimate and unbreachable relationship with their students and professional clients, and if so, how? Can we somehow learn to focus more on the value of the personal and professional results universities create? I just sense that this might be a more valuable contribution to the current political debate around university budgets than singing the old familiar tunes.