New Zealand Post aims to become card-maker for iPhone users
iPhone users can now create and send physical greeting cards from their phones through New Zealand Post. The iPhone application – which can also be used on Apple’s iPad and iPod Touch and personal computers – is free to download. Cards cost $5 to create and send from any country to any country.
Users select an image from their image library or snap a photo on their phone and write a message to appear in the card. They then add the delivery address, view a preview of the card and pay for it with their credit card. Standard data traffic charges from internet providers will also apply.
NZ Post market engagement manager Fiona Woolley says it wants to make it easy for people to send cards and postcards. “We had feedback from lots of people saying they still liked – if they’re sending things to husbands, wives, kids at university or nanas – getting things out of the letterbox. It’s the tangibility of it. “So if you’re an American tourist standing at the top of Mt Cook, you can take a photo on your iPhone and just send it straight off.”It’s instantaneous and it’s fun.”
Stefan Korn, an e-commerce analyst, says NZ Post is trying to leverage off new technology without letting go of its “snail mail” business model.
NZ Post says there are 38 million iPhone users around the world and the potential for its service is huge, but Mr Korn says few people outside New Zealand would know of NZ Post.
