Reed College is considered one of the nation’s most interesting liberal arts colleges. In fact, in a recent review posted online about the Portland, Ore., school one student said that,” You can have a conversation with almost anyone and learn something.”

So when students started to talk about smartphones, Martin Fichter, acting president of HTC (News - Alert) Americas, listened. He learned something. He liked what he heard. They reportedly told him that iPhones are way from cool.

Given that HTC is a rival to Apple’s (News - Alert) iPhone, he no doubt found that way, way cool.

The informal comments came from students living in the same dorm as his daughter. Mashable says the students told him that none has an iPhone.

“They told me, ‘My dad has an iPhone,’” Fichter revealed.

“There’s an interesting thing that’s going on in the market. The iPhone becomes a little less cool than it was. They were carrying HTCs. They were carrying Samsungs. They were even carrying some Chinese manufacturer’s devices,” Mashable reported his comments.

“Macbook Airs are cool. iPhones are not that cool anymore. We here are using iPhones, but our kids don’t find them that cool anymore,” he added during a presentation at the Mobile Future (News - Alert) Forward conference in Seattle.

But not everyone will make the leap from the informal survey to new market trends.

“Presenting your daughter’s college dorm as representative of a wider trend, especially when the whole world is waiting for Apple’s next phone, seems a sure-fire route to ridicule,” commented Mashable. 

“On the other hand, Fichter has a point: iPhone owners tend to be older and more affluent, largely because their device is more expensive than the average Android (News - Alert) equivalent. According to a recent infographic from recommendation engine Hunch, Android owners tend to have only a high school diploma and to be aged between 18 and 34 — the cool years, as far as most marketers are concerned,” Mashable added.

The Washington Post agrees. “It is true that Android phones are more popular with younger users than the iPhone, according to research from Pew’s (News - Alert) Internet and American Life Project,” The Post said. The newspaper speculates that is caused by “a wider range of price options and models to choose from.” 

“What’s not clear is whether younger people are shying away from the iPhone because it’s the phone their parents use or because they can’t afford it,” The Post added.

In defense of the iPhone, Appolicious noted it is “hugely user-friendly. It’s absolutely bristling with games. It includes more apps than any other available platform.”

“Those are things that surely help to circumvent the perception of Apple’s device being the smartphone of choice for the uncool generation,” Appolicious added.

The iPhone 5 is reportedly due out in October, TMCnet said.