NZ Post aims to become card-maker for iPhone users

NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR SNAIL MAIL: New Zealand Post's greeting card service has been labelled "a dog" by e-commerce expert Stefan Korn, who says NZ Post is stuck between the digital and traditional worlds.

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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 or wives or 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."

The service has been labelled "a dog" by one e-commerce expert, who says NZ Post is stuck between the digital and traditional worlds.

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.

"That's a big disconnect with where everyone else is at. Everyone else is trying to get away from using paper for lots of reasons.

"I don't think it's going to work. The reason is iPhones and the iPod Touch are all about being instant and on the spur of the moment. I don't think it will appeal to the iPhone generation."

Users may feel they can't control what the end product looks like and could probably print off their own cards and post them for much less fuss and cost, he says.

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.

"I think it's a dog ... but if they end up making a huge fortune out of it, good on them."

- © Fairfax NZ News