CardMunch, the iPhone app that helps import business cards into a digital format, has announced that it has been bought by LinkedIn.
While that’s good news for CardMunch, its even better news for you, its potential users. “Starting today,” writes the company, “the current version of the CardMunch app will be completely free!”
After reading about CardMunch last week in a thread about the must-have iPhone apps for any journalist (of which, many are simply must-have for any iPhone-bearing geek), I went to check the app out, but found I couldn’t justify the no-discount pricing structure. (For 40 cards it was $10. 400? $100.)
According to the announcement, the service is now entirely free, allowing you to add as many cards as you like, free of charge. If you don’t see this in your app, you can update it to reflect the change.
CardMunch is interesting in how it works – it isn’t a digital recognition program. Instead, each card is “transcribed, edited and reviewed by multiple workers to guarantee accuracy.” Already, the service had a “1-tap LinkedIn Invite” to help you connect with people on LinkedIn, but we’re hoping this acquisition will offer an even tighter integration with the social network for professionals.
Will it continue to operate the same way? There’s no mention of changing in the announcement, but we’ve reached out to LinkedIn to find out. However it works, it could be a great addition for LinkedIn. I know I, for one, will be more likely to follow up with my connections using LinkedIn if I can import all those business cards into my mobile contacts for free.
