Apple Quietly Discontinues Cards Greeting Card Service, Suggests iPhoto For Mac

Amid the excitement brought about by its official announcement of the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S, Apple appears to have quietly terminated Cards. As noted by MacRumors, Apple's greeting card service has been discontinued. While the Cards iOS app can still be downloaded in the App Store, an attempt to create a card in the app results in a notification bearing the terse statement, "The Cards service is no longer available." By way of confirmation, Apple posted the following note in a support document:

As of September 10, 2013, the Cards iOS app service is no longer available. Cards ordered before 1 PM Pacific time on September 10, 2013, will be delivered, and push notifications will continue to work. You can view your previous purchases by tapping Saved Cards in the app. Note: You can still order beautiful letterpress cards customized with your photos and text using iPhoto on your Mac. Cards ordered through iPhoto are shipped through a carrier such as FedEx rather than through the United States Post Office.

Released in 2011 alongside the iPhone 4S, Cards enabled customers to create and mail personalized cards right from their iDevices. The service combined a centuries-old letterpress technique with digital text and photos in crafting greeting cards. Initially optimized for iPhone and iPod touch, the Cards app was updated to version 2.0 following the release of iOS 6 last year with native support for iPad as well as new designs and layouts. Now, though, Cards has unfortunately folded ahead of the release of iOS 7.

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