When Apple released the first iPhone, Steve Jobs claimed it was reinventing the phone. A new iOS app and service follows that idea with traditional postal mail.
The free app is called Outbox and the service costs $4.99 per month (first month is free). The service is currently only available in Austin, Texas and San Francisco, but the company that makes the app and provides the service plans on bringing it to more areas in the U.S.
The service works by collecting your postal mail three times per week; it then scans your mail in a secure warehouse, and sends you a notification when your mail is ready for viewing. You can then access it through the Outbox app on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or via a secure website.
The company wants to make it clear that this is a secure service with a $1 million identity theft protection policy, deluxe digital encryptions, secure shredding and recycling, and the company claims it has higher hiring standards the the U.S. Postal Service. The premise is that you'll never need to touch your own postal mail again. The service will probably appeal most to travelers, technology enthusiasts and germaphobes.
The Outbox app has a clever-looking interface, complete with a coffee table background to bring some of the comfort you're used to in reading your mail. The scans even show you the envelope your mail came in. You can organize your mail in folders, email it on to someone else, assign pieces of mail to a to-do-list, even request a physical copy to be delivered to you, tap a "toss" button for junk mail, and unsubscribe from junk mail.
Check out the video below to see Outbox in action. Do you think this is a service that has the potential to reinvent snail mail or is it more of a novelty idea? Let us know in the comments.
