As soon as the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) announced last May that it would be giving all 400 incoming freshmen Apple iPads, a lively debate broke out online at TUAW.com (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) between people who saw it as a marketing gimmick to attract students and others who believed it was an honest attempt to implement a new and useful educational technology. Technological glitches aside, the administrators who ventured into these campuswide mobile initiatives have both high and realistic hopes for their impact on both students' and faculty's academic experiences. The IIT project, for example, evolved from an earlier plan to improve customer service for students. Surveys had indicated students wanted better tools to navigate their way around the campus and its administrative systems. IIT was planning to create a campus-specific app and give iPods to all incoming freshmen and transfer students. But after seeing a demo of the iPad, and its price point relative to the iPod Touch, campus executives switched gears and gave all 450 first-year students iPads instead. The IIT app provides students with access to news, events, maps, and course listings. It will also enable the university to push emergency alerts directly to iPod, iPhone, and iPad devices. The iPads are already changing things at IIT. In this article, universities that roll out campuswide mobile initiatives say they are sending a message that they are unafraid to experiment with technology.