^ That's interesting.  But on the other hand, is attendance actually required at a University level?
Here, you can skip any class you want to (though you might want to show up to exams).  Some classes do try to entice you to come by giving out marks for attendance.

If the Uni wants people to have a higher passing rate, then I think the iPhone is a bit of a counter-intuitive measure, even if it was a popular device there.  Something like weekly tests probably work a lot better in forcing people to attend.