CardMunch Is Now Part of LinkedIn, and It’s Free

One of the tools Judie and I made big use of during CES was the iPhone app CardMunch. CardMunch let us quickly snap images of business cards and then added all the pertinent information to either its own address book or the iPhone’s built-in one. The transcription accuracy of the returned information was amazing thanks to the “human factor”. That’s right, the service employed people to help in the process and, as a result, CardMunch was not only quick but also reliable. It also, as a result, was a bit more expensive than the totally automated approaches.

Well CardMunch shared some big news last night:

First, the app is now entirely free. That’s right, as of tonight there are no more in-app purchases for scanning credits.

Second, and the reason for the first bit of news, is that CardMunch is now part of LinkedIn. As the email we received tells us,

Our long-term vision for CardMunch has been to help manage business contacts and help you to leverage your contacts and connections for doing business. With that in mind, we are thrilled to announce today that CardMunch is now a part of LinkedIn! LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and as such, provides the perfect platform for us to execute the CardMunch vision.

That’s not all; we have even more good news! Starting today, the current version of the CardMunch app will be completely free! Yes, you heard right, the current version of the CardMunch app is now a free service, which means that you can capture and transcribe as many business cards as you like, free of charge.

We congratulate the CardMunch team and look forward to LinkedIn bringing more power and function to an already great service.

The full email from CardMunch follows:

We started CardMunch in December 2009 to solve a very simple problem – converting business cards into electronic contacts on your phone. At CardMunch, we recognized that business cards are an essential part of doing business, and that they serve a practical purpose by being the most frictionless way of exchanging contact information. We also recognized that the world is now mobile – the phone needs to be the center of our contact universe.

CardMunch for iPhone launched on the AppStore in August 2010 and we have been blown away by the response from our users. It is as if we touched a nerve for a truly unsolved problem. Since August we have been steadily adding new users, working on scaling our service, and adding new product features. CardMunch 2.0 launched in December 2010 and included CardFlow™ – the mobile rolodex that lets you flip through all your cards right on your iPhone, full-text search to search any field in your contacts, and LinkedIn integration that allows one-touch connecting on the premier professional network.

Our long-term vision for CardMunch has been to help manage business contacts and help you to leverage your contacts and connections for doing business. With that in mind, we are thrilled to announce today that CardMunch is now a part of LinkedIn! LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and as such, provides the perfect platform for us to execute the CardMunch vision.

That’s not all; we have even more good news! Starting today, the current version of the CardMunch app will be completely free! Yes, you heard right, the current version of the CardMunch app is now a free service, which means that you can capture and transcribe as many business cards as you like, free of charge. The CardMunch app on the AppStore has been updated to reflect this, and we encourage you to update the application by clicking on this link: http://lnkd.in/cardmunch

Please note that as a result of the acquisition, LinkedIn’s terms of service and privacy policy will now apply to your use of the CardMunch service and the handling of your data. If, for any reason, you are not comfortable with CardMunch’s new ownership, terms of service, or privacy policy, you may cancel your account by emailing [email protected].

The CardMunch team remains committed to providing the best product and service for managing business cards. Now with the strength of LinkedIn behind us, we will continue to do exactly that, but do it better, faster, and for free. We have prepared a list of frequently asked questions http://lnkd.in/cardmunchFAQ to address any questions or concerns you may have. We are always happy to hear from our users, so if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Thanks for using CardMunch!

Cheers,
The CardMunch Team