AmericanGreetings.com goes mobile

In case you like sending the e-cards, you’ll be glad to know that one of the most popular e-card services AmericanGreetings.com launched a new mobile e-card service to allow users to send special mobile-optimized e-cards via cell phones.

Developed in partnership with provider of media solutions for mobile messaging – Image Semantics, the new service will initially be available at no additional charge in U.S. to AmericanGreetings.com subscribers. The “no additional charge” goes for sending, while for receiving one, carriers may charge anywhere from zero to 30 cents depending on the recipient’s current messaging plan.

The scenario goes something like this: 1) You pick the card, personalize and send it; 2) Recipient receives a handset discovery message on their phone that detects the capabilities of the phone and carrier and requests permission to send the e-card; 3) When the recipient responds back, the service delivers the mobile e-card in the best available format for the phone and the network of the destination carrier. While it may sound complicated, it actually requires just a few clicks.

At the moment, the mobile collection consists of 11 birthday and 9 anytime e-cards, but AmericanGreetings.com promised to add more of them throughout the fall and winter — to include content for Halloween, Christmas and other holidays.