Wednesday, January 26, 2011

LinkedIn Buys Business Card Reader CardMunch

LinkedIn

Silicon Valley startup CardMunch, which offers a great business card reading app for the iPhone, has been acquired by LinkedIn. Starting today, the service is available for free, with no limit on the number of cards that can be scanned.

CardMunch isn't just an automatic scanner -- it actually sends the scanned image over the Internet to people who read it and key in the information, then send it back to your iPhone where it's added to the contacts list. This lets the company guarantee 100% accuracy. Similar services without the human touch might offer 90% accuracy, but that translates to one digit wrong in a ten-digit phone number.

CardMunch added LinkedIn integration back in November, allowing users to send LinkedIn invitations to their newly scanned contacts. Apparently LinkedIn liked the service so much, it decided to buy the company. CardMunch used to charge about $0.33 per card for its service -- 3 scans cost $0.99, while 35 scans cost $9.99 -- but LinkedIn is now offering the service for free. Right now, you don't need a LinkedIn account to use it, but that could change.

The companies didn't disclose terms of the acquisition.

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