[a_m_kelly]

This seems like a really good idea, except that for me, it destroys two of the main reasons I send post cards when I travel:

* The physical mail is moving from where I am travelling to where the recipient is back home. It has to travel, just like I am.

* The best post cards are cramped with text.

* postmarks: (for me at least) you see where it was mailed from and when, additional ties to the time and place when it was written. A postmark from wherever the postagram warehouse is located isn't as interesting as the Paris mail exchange or the airmail stamp from Dehli.

seems to me like they've missed what gives value to postcards to me: their timeliness & physical history. No one really looks at the picture anyway, that's incidental, it's the message that's important.

I always put a _lot_ more than 140 characters on the back of a postcard. I put more than 140 charters just into the "DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE" space on the postcard. Postcards aren't about the picture, they're about sending a message from a specific time and place, forward to a person in a different place.

So, this is a good idea, but won't replace actual postcards for me. I could see using it for a number of other things, but I don't think this is in any way "at least 1,000 times better" than a long, thoughtful note crammed onto the back of some cheap cardstock you bought for a quarter at the beach. EDIT: spelling.

[brezina]

a_m_kelly - i'm the founder of Sincerely (creator of postagram)

I totally hear where you are coming from. We don't intend to replace old-school postcards.

Instead, we think of postcards simply as a delivery mechanism for photos. We are arbitraging the US postal service's subsidized delivery rates to get a photo printed and delivered from an iphone. If we make it incredibly easy to print and deliver a photo, we think it will create new photo sharing behaviors. Part of it will be the canonical "here is a photo i took while traveling" use case you mentioned. But I'm more interested in the "Brad - thanks for inviting us on the ski trip" thank you card or simply sending a photo of my niece to my parents & relatives.

[jerrya]

Ya know, I am kicking myself for telling you this when you haven't hired me, but the best part of my suggestion is that it makes YOUR trips to the Eiffel Tower, to the Grand Canyon, to Maui, to Tokyo, to Niagara Falls completely tax deductible as you work to sign up local vendors who will do the printing and shipping and marketing at the local attraction for you.

[jerrya]

And you probably can find actual vendors in those locations that can, at the location from their streetcart or small shop take the photo emailed to you (perhaps via QR code), print it out locally at their stand, and then they hand it back to the customer along with the proper stamp, and the customer can write anything they want on it, and drop it in the mail.

Hey, um, I have some free time this summer, happy to make those trips with you....

[jerrya]

Sincerely, what I think you should do is to partner with Mailboxes etc. (or similar) (or even with FedEx) and have the postcards printed in the appropriate local zipcode.

Postcards of the Grand Canyon need to come from the Grand Canyon.

Postcards of the Eiffel Tower need to come from Paris.

This actually makes your play even easier since you don't have to buy as many printers.

This is attractive for your parters since you are selling their services for them, and since you are increasing utilization of their equipment.

[cburgas]

Are there any plans to expand your service to europe in the near future?

I can't download the app in the german store right now.

[HardyLeung]

I have to say, this is simply brilliant!

[frossie]

So, this is a good idea, but won't replace actual postcards for me

Well I have been doing this with the Postino iOS app for a couple of years now and it has replaced postcards for me (though obviously I don't expect it to do so for everyone).

The two killer features for Postino are (a) the convenience, for example you don't have to obtain stamps or find a postbox and (b) KIDS. Your parents are probably a lot more likely to want a picture of their grandkid in front of the Eiffel tower, rather than just the Eiffel tower itself.

I agree about the message being equally important though, the Postino app allows for a non-trivial amount of text and a hand-drawn "signature".

[kmfrk]

Instagram's filters are also a weird, annoying, inauthentic, dare I say pretentious concept. It's like it wants to infuse vintage nostalgia into the present.

I like Postagram's concept on its own premise - and I think it'll work great for them.

It's about discovering a market and a userbase, and these people have done that. I can't do anything but with them the best.

It already uses Instagram, so it's not like it's to blame for the aforementioned downsides. They are latching onto the mentality and turning a profit from it. You don't even have to like Instagram to do that.

I don't like Instagram, but I wish I'd come up with this idea. I don't have to like Justin Bieber's music to sell ear plugs near his concert.