The New ‘Flag’ App Will Print and Mail You Your Photos for FREE

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A new app called ‘Flag’ is exploding on Kickstarter today, and it’s based on a very simple premise. The app will print and mail you museum quality, 220 gsm prints of 20 photos per month absolutely free… just as long as you allow them to place advertisements on the usually-blank back side of the photo.

That’s it: no catch, no shipping charges, nothing. For now, you have to live in the US, but they hope to expand out soon.

Here’s a quick intro to the service and everything you’d be able to do with it:

As you can see, not all of the services offered by Flag will be free. If you want postcards, for example, you’ll pay about a dollar more than shipping. In fact, pretty much any special option available will cost a tiny bit. But those 20, high-quality, 4×6 prints per month will always be free. And if you want something bigger, you can use 16 of your allotted photos to order a ‘jigsaw’ print.

Another cool free feature will be the ability to print a photo, a caption, EXIF and location data on the back next to the ad, so you never have to strain to remember when and how you took the shot. And if you are willing to pay, Flag will offer all sorts of other services including panoramas, traditional enlargements, special borders and more.

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So, if the app and core product is to be free, you might ask yourself, why the Kickstarter campaign? Or, better yet, why should I support it when the end product will be free?

The Kickstarter campaign is there because providing ad-supported prints leads one into a classic catch-22. You need advertisers to get free prints to customers, but you need customers to entice advertisers to work with you. Kickstarter is their way of proving to advertisers that the idea is… if you’ll pardon our French… worth a damn.

The money will also allow them to buy the equipment necessary to run their “21st century photo finishing system.” This allows them to deliver on the quality they’re promising, while preventing others from easily copying their business model. It also explains why the Kickstarter goal is so high.

As for the second question, any money you pledge to help Flag get funded goes right back in your pocket as credit within the app. So if you fund them, you’ll already have money to go towards some of those special services mentioned above.

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The Kickstarter is plunging ahead at breakneck speed, but they still have a ways to go. There are 10 days left and they’ve only raised just under $53K of the $100K they need.

Given the press attention the app has gotten over the past day, we’re confident it will reach full funding. But if you want to learn more or help make sure that they reach their goal, head over to the Flag Kickstarter by clicking here.

(via TechCrunch)

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