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Were you surprised by Apple's announcement of the new Cards app for iPhone? You shouldn't be — it's a multi-billion dollar industry that has so far weathered the recession better than most.
According to the U.S. Greeting Card Association, Americans send 7 billion greeting cards every year, with the average household buying 30 cards. Retail sales of greeting cards within the States are estimated to be in excess of $7.5 billion.
The figures are no less impressive when you leave U.S. shores. The UK's Greeting Card Association reports £1.386 billion was spent on "single" (as opposed to multipack) cards alone in the last year. The UK card industry has also seen annual growth — a value increase of 3% and a volume increase of 2.7% — in the face of tough retail conditions.
The potential for Apple to app-ify the card personalizing, buying and sending process seems huge. Especially when you consider that around 80% of cards are currently bought by women.
But what about the developers already offering successful ecard solutions? How will the new Cards app cut into their business?
We've asked a handful of top developers, traditional greeting card companies with digital off-shoots, and industry bodies for their reaction to the Apple Cards app news.
Greeting Card Association, USA
From Greeting Card Association vice president Steve Doyal, senior vice president, public affairs and communications at Hallmark Cards, Inc.:
"Apple's announcement is a strong endorsement of the enduring value of a printed greeting card delivered through the mail.
"Many of our Greeting Card Association members have online services and capabilities similar to the product now being offered by Apple.
"The GCA welcomes the affirmation of the emotional impact a printed card delivers."
American Greetings Interactive
From Sally Schriner, president, American Greetings Interactive:
"We are very encouraged that Apple sees the benefits of card sending and believe their arrival to the market will bring even more awareness to our category.
"With more than 100 years of experience in greeting cards, and 15 years in digital greetings, we're excited to be in an industry that is continuing to expand."
Shutterfly
From Jeff Housenbold, president & CEO, Shutterfly:
"Shutterfly pioneered the photo sharing industry in 1999 and competes with large companies in the areas of photo books, calendars, and greeting cards.
"Shutterfly currently offers more than 6,000 card designs, and we see Apple's launch of Cards for iOS as further validation of the market opportunity.
"Thanks to our strategy, we are best positioned to transform these multi-billion dollar markets from offline and generic to online personalized products with dynamic content.
"As a result of our singular focus, the high quality derived from our vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities, best of breed depth and breadth of design, and fantastic customer experience across multiple platforms, we have been recognized by customers and investors as the market leader."
Postino
From Marco Bellinaso, CTO, AnguriaLab LLC:
"We at AnguriaLab [maker of Postino] are actually taking the news very positively: Apple is validating the idea of a mobile app to send physical cards, saying it is a great thing for end users, and surely good business for them.
"Now that the idea will [come to the] mass market, there will be a lot more users considering it, and many will probably start looking around to see if there are cheaper or just different alternatives.
"A Postino postcard costs $1.99 for worldwide delivery, verus Apple's $4.99 price tag -- quite a big difference, especially if you want to send many postcards to friends and family.
"We don't want to fight just with a lower price though. There are other feature that differentiate us with competitors, and we're constantly adding others.
"In the end, it's pretty good news to us and we're looking forward to see how people will react to it."
Red Stamp
From Erin Newkirk, CEO and Co-founder of Red Stamp:
"We are invigorated by Apple's news. Apple has just announced to the world what Red Stamp has known for a year -- there is a huge opportunity in mobile correspondence. We're huge fans of Apple and look forward to seeing what Apple creates.
"Likewise, we are very confident in our product and the technology behind our product. With 400+ designs that you can text, email, tweet, post to Facebook, and/or paper mail via USPS, Red Stamp is focused on more than just formal card occasions. We strive to help people make their relationships stronger in every way, every day."
Postagram
From Matt Brezina, co-founder & CEO, Sincerely Inc:
"Apple is in the hardware and operating system business. We are in the gifting business. Sincerely's goal as a company is to make it easy for our users to send simple, thoughtful gifts from their mobile phone.
"With Postagram we've developed a world-class service that was featured by Apple in adverts across the WSJ, Newsweek, Time, and other major outlets.
"We will continue to offer amazing experiences for our users and [the] announcement only reaffirms our focus."
Postcard on the Run
From Josh Brooks, CEO, Postcard on the Run:
"The photo app space continues to be white hot for innovation and development, bridging the physical world and digital worlds and bringing memories to life like they never have before.
"Yesterday's news from Apple is a huge validation for developers in the photo app space to continue to push forward in launching tools that make this experience more personal and memorable. One such tool we created exclusively for Postcard on the Run, called Postal Gopher, allows users to easily retrieve physical mailing addresses for any of their contacts.
"While all of the specifics on Apple Card are still somewhat unknown, it appears Postal Gopher (available through Postal Gopher's open API) may be a missing link for Apple in creating a flawless greeting card experience."
"Android and Apple products have opened a whole new world in allowing users to create and share memories in a physical way. Personal touches, along with fun and intuitive features will surely help push sharing those precious moments in time in a new and tangible way."
Greeting Card Association, UK
From Sharon Little, chief executive, Greeting Card Association, UK:
"I think the more channels for sending cards the better, as long as the recipient is receiving a real card. Moonpig, Funky Pigeon and other web-based card publishers are already available via an iPhone.
"However Apple's 'Cards' app does seem quite an expensive option at $2.99, 21 images isn't a huge variety, and I would be interested to see the quality of the board and printing.
"There has been quite a bit of conjecture over the impact of online retail on the greeting card market, especially from outside the industry. But we haven't seen any worrying impact on card sales. We estimate that, at most, online sales now represent 3% of the market, which compared to the books and CD market is tiny!
"The latest GCA Market Report 2011 suggests that far from sounding the death knell of the greeting card industry, social networking and texting have created new opportunities and more interaction. More communication between people means a greater network of people that care about each other and it is widely believed that this has had a positive effect on card sales."
Touchnote
From Oded Ran, CEO, Touchnote:
"Apple has validated what Touchnote has known for some time -- there's a market for physical photo sharing from mobile. We have no doubt other OEMs will likely follow suit soon.
"Touchnote launched globally on the major Sony Ericsson handsets this year. Our Android app was featured by Google globally, resulting in over 300,000 downloads.
"Our phone has been ringing off the hook this morning, a lot of very interesting propositions with current as well as potential partners coming our way... We'll share more information as soon as we can."
Simply Postcards
Finally, we end this gallery with a refreshing comment which made us smile from Merrie Casteel, COO, SimplyPostcards.com:
"Yes, it was a huge disappointment to hear. But, Simply Postcards are still a lot cheaper at 99 cents including shipping.
"Nobody wants to be forced to compete with Apple, and of course it will hurt business… but no hard feelings, tell 'em if things don't work out with their current printer, give me a call. No, seriously… please give me a call!"
Do you think there's space in the market for Apple? Are you looking forward to the Cards app? Will you ditch an existing app for Cards? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
More About: apple, apple cards, Business, features, iphone apps
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