This weekend, the new Willowbrook Mall Apple Store will be opening. That is- the Willowbrook Mall located in Houston, Texas.

Today Apple announced the grand opening date of the Willowbrook Mall for June 7th at 10AM. Located in Houston, Texas; the Willowbrook Mall is host to over 160 stores and services in over 1.53 million square feet of retail space. The latest store joins two other existing Apple Stores in Houston, the Memorial City Store and the Galleria Store. The Willowbrook store is located near Dillards and JC Penney. For directions, store schedule and more information, check out the stores website.

What is interesting about the location of this new Apple Store is that there is another Willowbrook Mall, located in New Jersey, with an Apple Store scheduled to open in it this fall. While details are still light, you can read more about the Wayne, New Jersey Apple Store also in Willowbrook Mall here.

If you are located near this new Apple Store, or know someone who is, theiLife is looking for someone to take pictures or video of the store and even liveblog from the grand opening. Please contact us if you are interested.

Today Apple has launched this years “Buy a Mac, Get a Free iPod” back to school promotion.

As rumored by both MacRumors and AppleInsider yesterday; Apple launched the promotion early this morning.

To qualify for the deal, students must purchase a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, or Mac Pro and either an iPod Touch or a 8GB iPod nano before September 15th 2008 to receive a rebate for the iPod. All products much be purchased from Apple either online, in an Apple Retail Store or at an Apple Authorized Campus Store. Any student accepted into or currently attending college and any employee of a public or private K-12 institution or higher education facility are eligible for the promotion.

Last year, the deal only offered a 200 dollar credit towards any new iPod (at the time, a free 4GB iPod nano), however this years deal offers a $300 discount which equates to an 8GB iPod Touch. Students can also opt for a 8GB iPod nano if they desire.

As reported by Morgan Stanley earlier this year, almost 40 percent of all college students are planning to purchase a Mac as their next computer. Apple currently holds a 15 percent market share in the student demographic.

The iLife staff notes that writers Matt Dodd, Matthew Rosenhein and Dan Spiers plan to purchase MacBook Pros under this new deal for college next year. Sidney San Martin and Matt Hamilton, both college students, already own Apple laptops and took advantage of last years deal.