{"id":1550,"date":"2009-06-20T06:58:30","date_gmt":"2009-06-20T11:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/?p=1550"},"modified":"2009-06-20T07:00:09","modified_gmt":"2009-06-20T12:00:09","slug":"postcards-an-iphone-app-idea-and-hazelmail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2009\/06\/20\/postcards-an-iphone-app-idea-and-hazelmail","title":{"rendered":"Postcards, an iPhone app idea, and HazelMail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"First<\/a> A few months ago, I had this idea, that I shared with a few people, for a cool iPhone app. The idea was roughly:<\/p>\n

\nTake a photo. Use said app. Add a message. Pick an address (preferably out of your Address Book). And have it mailed out, without you having to look for a post office, a postcard or a stamp. And never have to worry about charges — it’ll just be billed via your account on file, either via PayPal or direct credit card debit.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The problem with this business model is that:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I need to work out printers – there must be local printers in various locations, typically of the destination.<\/li>\n
  2. I need to work out how postal services work, in general, and what’s the most profit-friendly option<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The margins, I figured, will be low. The application will either work via (roaming – one would assume) 3G\/EDGE, or a common WiFi network, which you tend to get pretty much everywhere these days. WiFi should be preferred, since you don’t want to be slapped with a large roaming data bill. \"The<\/a><\/p>\n

    Anyway, I purchased the iPhone 3.0 SDK about a month back<\/a>, and started hacking. Finding a name was going to be interesting, since apps like iPostCard, already existed. Ha! Names are so important, I think.<\/p>\n

    Today, I read about how to Turn your iPhone photos into postcards with HazelMail<\/a>. HazelMail<\/a> does exactly what I was planning to do. They’ve worked out all the business aspects, too, and charge your account with HazelBucks (so 1 postcard = USD$1 basically).<\/p>\n

    The only problem I can see with this whole idea (HazelMail’s and mine)? Stamp collectors. Some people love stamps from foreign lands, and that is part of the appeal, of receiving a postcard. However, I don’t know that many stamp collectors these days, and I do want to send postcards, so this was really, just trying to scratch an itch, and I’m glad that HazelMail has done so. Time to give it a try, and work on my next app idea ;)<\/p>\n

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