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Amazon takes aim at Shutterfly with photo printing service
Photo printing is the latest addition to Amazon's slate of services and that's not great news for the likes of Shutterfly. Amazon Prints outputs snapshots for as little as 9 cents each and offers photo books starting at $20. What's more, options like post cards and calendars will soon be added, too. The online retailer debuted Prime Photos in 2014, giving subscribers unlimited photo storage as part of their $99 annual fee. It also offers a standalone storage option for $60 a year. With Amazon Prints, the company has a way to make money off of the photos it's storing for customers.
Shutterfly announces Shutterfly Photo Story for iPad
Shutterfly, Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based photo-publishing site, wants to become your one-stop shop for printed photo products. Today it launched a free iPad application called Shutterfly Photo Story , which lets you create your own photo books -- with a difference. Unlike other photo books, Shutterfly Photo Story lets you add 30-second audio messages to each page. Your photo album becomes an instant story, engaging all your relatives and friends in a more intimate and personal experience. A QR code printed on the photo book lets readers hear the recorded messages. A "record" button appears on each page as you create your photo pages in Shutterfly Photo Story, and you can choose to add one audio file for the entire book or add audio to every page. When you share your photo book via email or Facebook, a clickable icon appears on pages with embedded audio. For the hard cover books, a QR code is printed on the back. Readers scan the code to open a digital version of the book and listen to the audio, according to Shutterfly. Shutterfly offers a choice of 10 different styles and three book sizes. Printed book prices range from US$29.99 to $59.99. You can only order an 20-page, 8 x 8-inch, 8 x 11-inch or 12 x 12-inch book with audio. Pages can be added for an additional fee and there is a choice of a hard or soft cover for your book. Less-expensive and small-sized books are also available, but do not include the new audio feature. Shutterfly Photo Story imports photos from Facebook, Instagram, Shutterfly or your iPad Photo Stream. As with Shutterfly's other photo book products, the book can be shared on Facebook or printed as an actual hard copy. For creating a book without audio, Shutterfly for iPad is also available from the iTunes store. Sarah Perez of TechCrunch notes that Shutterfly is not the first service to offer in-book audio. Memorability offered audio in books first, but alas, their books can be shared, but not printed. Shutterfly Photo Story works on the iPad 2 and above and the iPad mini with iOS 6 or later. The limitations include that you cannot edit projects created on the iPad on your Mac, nor can you edit projects created on the Mac on your iPad, so for now, projects are device-dependent. In the past couple of years Shutterfly has acquired the Kodak Gallery, card seller Tiny Prints, ThisLife and, most recently, MyPublisher, another photo book publisher. For a limited time, photo products bought at Best Buy come with a Shutterfly code for a free book. (I received one when I bought a camera at Best Buy two weeks ago.) Shutterfly also offers a sales page for specials and discounts. Just to prove that sometimes we use the products that we review, I've printed a number of books from Shutterfly. Now, I just need to import the shots to my iPad and add audio to create that wonderful personal experience for my Mom! [via TechCrunch]
Shutterfly's Treat greeting card app gets a major overhaul, more occasions
For those seeking an easy way to send greeting cards right from their iOS device, online photo gift service Shutterfly has relaunched its free Treat app today. Version 2.0 of the app adds several more occasion types on top of the original, allowing you to send anniversary, Valentine's Day, congratulations and thank you cards in addition to birthday cards. A wheel-based selector tool lets you narrow down the type of card based on recipient, mood and more. Once you've chosen the card you want and personalized the message, you can select an optional store card to include as a gift and have the greeting card printed and mailed to your recipient. There's also a means to select what day you'd like your card to arrive on or before. Treat was originally launched in April of last year and only offered birthday cards until today's new version. Shutterfly plans to add more occasion types this year including Mother's Day and Father's Day cards. [Via TechCrunch]
Shutterfly to buy ThisLife photo archive and sharing service
Shutterfly has made a name for itself by offering a streamlined way for photo buffs to turn their snapshots into scrapbooks, calendars, prints and other products. Now the company has acquired ThisLife, a cloud-based photo-sharing and archiving service which offers both paid and free subscription tiers. Earlier this month, TechCrunch reported on a rumor that pointed to the impending acquisition, and it appears that those sources were spot-on. According to a press release regarding the deal, Shutterfly plans to use ThisLife's tech to further flesh out its product-creation process. "Consumers will be able to safely and easily preserve, organize and share their memories, regardless of where photos are stored -- from Facebook to Picasa to mobile phones," the release reads. "ThisLife's intelligent organization platform offers features like facial recognition and presents photos and albums in an elegant timeline for convenient sharing and product creation." Shutterfly already maintains an iOS app and ThisLife has promised that its own app is on the way for iPhone and iPad, so it will be interesting to see what changes are in store on that front. Shutterfly hasn't revealed the price for which it acquired ThisLife, but notes that additional details will be revealed in its next earnings call.
Kodak agrees to sell Gallery online photo service to Shutterfly for $24 million
Remember that Kodak Photo Gallery online picture service that we didn't use? It appears that years of shipping packed-in with the company's cameras have netted it some 75 million users, making it an asset that now-bankrupt Kodak has agreed to sell off to Shutterfly for $23.8 million. The deal isn't quite done yet, with Shutterfly's offer entered as a stalking horse bid while other buyers may also submit proposals before the process is targeted to close in the spring. This is all a part of Kodak's pivot away from digital cameras and related products as it focuses on enterprise services and desktop printers instead. Under the current agreement, current gallery customers uncomfortable with being shipped off to Shutterfly will be able to opt out and either download their stored pics or buy them on DVDs. Otherwise, their accounts will be transferred in a way that is "preserved, and protected" -- that is to say, almost entirely unlike the way they're handled on iOS and Android.
