Is using Apple’s Cards app too impersonal?

Apple recently came out with Cards, an iOS app that allows you to create and customize real greeting cards and send them out to your loved ones for only $2.99 per card, all of which happens through the app. Apple completely takes care of the postage, prints the cards out, and then snail-mails them for you, which is quite impressive. The nice thing I like about the cards is that Apple uses a centuries-old printing method called letterpress, where the design gets embossed into the paper as ink is added.

I recently started using the app once I got my iPhone 4S not too long ago. I used it a few times by sending birthday cards to a couple of family members. It was nice not having to make a special trip to the store just to pick up a card and then finding out that I didn’t have any stamps, requiring another trip to the post office. Going through the Cards app was also certainly a cheaper route for me. Apple charges only $2.99 per card. Cards in a brick-and-mortar store cost anywhere from $4 to $6 plus postage.

Cards allows you customize your greeting cards by writing whatever message you want and insert a photo for a more personal touch. However, is the process of creating cards quickly through the app making us too lazy and therefore, making the process not personal enough?

When you send someone a hand-signed card, it essentially says that you took the time to actually go to the store to choose a card and head to the post office to get a stamp and slide it in the mailbox. That alone can make the recipient feel pretty special — to know that they took that kind of time to acknowledge you.

Then again, as society is going more digital, is sending a greeting card through an app becoming more acceptable? You be the judge. Let us know what you think in the comments.