(Regarding press article below) My prediction/comment on this: This could be a very good thing for the entire industry, even though it could have a negative impact on large greeting card publishers.
Apple may actually bring the printed card industry to life since it will surely attract younger buyers and allow for convenience. This could create more people having more experiences of receiving paper greeting cards in the mail and enjoying it, therefore causing them to send more.
The significance of this event is not that this is just an
app, but that
Apple is doing this, and possibly they are doing it
outside of the greeting card industry community.
-Kate
Cards: Apple’s One-Stop-Shop for iPhone Greeting CardsApple is entering the greeting card business with the announcement of Cards, a do-it-yourself application for creating, printing and sending greeting cards.
Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iOS Software at Apple, previewed the application at Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event Tuesday. Forstall touted it as a one-stop-shop for creating cards on your iPhone.
“It’s a new app that let’s you create cards on your phone … and we’ll do the rest,” Forstall said.
Cards users can select from 21 different designs. Once the card creation is completed, Apple will print out the cards, emboss them, add a mailing address and send them anywhere in the U.S. for $2.99 per card, or anywhere in the world for $4.99. Cards users can also send electronic versions via email free of charge.
Cards is a free download that appears to compete with Postcard On the Run and Postagram, which are also photo-centric greeting card applications for iPhone.
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