/(p[eu]rls of wisdom)?/

With yesterday’s discussion on using tools to see what people are searching for, I’m happy that I’ve now got a great example. As I was looking through my logs, I noticed something interesting. I’d had a few hits from computers in the apple.com domain. Someone from Apple had been looking at my blog, specifically the post about Apple’s Cards app. As I investigated further, the first visit was from someone who had searched for “apple cards” in Google, and a quick look now shows that post is on page one of Google’s results. The other four visits from Apple didn’t have any “referrer” information – that is, they didn’t link to my blog from a web page, but were direct links. Typically this means that either someone typed it in to their browser, or it was linked from a non-browser application, such as a mail client or instant messenger client. This in turn suggests that the first person who found that blog entry was interested enough in it to share it with other people at Apple.

So, now I know Apple is listening, I have some suggestions.

• The “copy” icon is unintuitive. I didn’t realise it meant copy, and when I tapped it, it took me into editing the card, but the recipient address seemed to have just vanished. Of course, if you’re copying a card, it makes sense to remove the recipient from the envelope, because you’re hardly likely to send that card to the same person. However, because it took me into the copy of the card to edit it, and the address was missing, I thought that something had gone wrong. A little pop-up saying that you’re now editing a copy of the card would have been helpful.
• All of the card templates are in landscape format. It would be nice to have some in portrait. If I go to the store to look at cards there, almost all of them are in portrait, so it felt odd that there were no portrait templates.
• It would be nice to have some different colour schemes. I’m not asking for free range in selecting colours, because I know how people who aren’t professional graphic designers can do horrendous things with bad colour selection. However, to be able to pick a design, and then choose a colour theme from a selection of 4 or 5 would be a nice touch.
• Another nice touch would be the ability to sign the card – either by signing with your finger on the app, or uploading an image of a signature so it is “hand written”, on the inside. A nice looking “love, Timothy” that is clearly in my own hand, perhaps stored within the app for future use, that I can add and place on the inside of the card would be a great feature. If you do this, there should be multiple signature images that you can save, as how you sign off depends on to whom you are sending the card.
• Lastly, and this is the feature that I think would be absolutely fantastic, would be the ability to purchase an iTunes or Apple gift certificate from within the Card app. This would basically be automating the process I went through that I described in my earlier blog post about the Cards app. Then the redemption code can be added to the card automatically without any risk of mistranscribing it. It also means a single purchase is made, and let’s be honest, if the feature is available directly from within the app, more people are likely to do it, which therefore means more revenue.

So there it is – my thoughts on how the Cards app can be improved. I know you’re listening, Apple, so it’s now your move.