The app way to spread cheer

Most people approach the annual rite of sending holiday cards with all the enthusiasm of filing income tax returns. It's just one more chore on a long to-do list this time of year. Even if you love to shop, it can be troublesome. Stores are crowded, gift options seem endless and it's hard to determine if you're getting the best prices.

If you have a smartphone, though, there's a simple solution: Apps. This holiday season, sending greetings cards has become really cool again.

You've got mail

The card-sending apps from Apple and other companies work on iPhones, iPads and Android devices in a few minutes for a few bucks.

Download the app, choose a design and a photo, add a sentiment and click ‘send' to someone in your address book.

The cards compete for prized square footage on refrigerators and fireplace mantels. "I don't care how old or technologically advanced you are, everyone appreciates getting something in their mailbox rather than their in-box," says Lisa Crowell, 41, who runs iChick, a digital consulting and photography business in Santa Barbara, California, and has recommended the new apps to her customers. The Goliath in the space is Apple. It has an app available on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple Cards lets users turn a photo into a greeting card with a personal message that Apple prints and mails for a nominal amount. Users are notified on the day the card is to be delivered. Apple's chief rival is Sincerely, a 12-person San Francisco start-up that rolled out its greeting card app Sincerely Ink last month. The app works on iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches and Android devices.

It sends cards for $1.99 in the US, Canada and Europe, and $2.99 elsewhere in the world. Silicon Valley may be on to something. Personalised greetings are some of the fastest-growing products for the greeting card industry.

There are tonnes of mobile apps to help you save time and cash this holiday season. Several apps claim to ease holiday shopping frustrations here are a bunch that make the task easier — and a few that make it more fun.

RedLaser and Price Check by Amazon (free, available for iPhone and Android) are two apps that let you search for items by typing in the name or by scanning a barcode.

And with PriceCheck you can also search for items with your voice or by taking a photo of things like books and DVDs.

RedLaser, which is owned by eBay Inc., is great for finding items online. RedLaser includes a handy feature for making simple shopping lists, and a history feature that records all the items you've looked up, so you can go back and find things later.

Price Check's layout is slightly more attractive than RedLaser's, though it's limited to the web since it gives online-only results from Amazon.com and companies that sell through Amazon.com Inc.

Make a list

If you have a hard time organising a gift list, or tend to misplace it, you'll like Gift Plan ($2.99, available for iPhone). The app lets you make elaborate gift lists for family and friends. You can set up lists of potential presents, jot down people's likes and dislikes and — even more helpful for those of us who never remember such things — their clothing sizes. The app's ‘Occasions' tab shows you upcoming holidays or birthdays, and a ‘Shopping' tab helps you track gifts you plan to buy.

The holidays can be stressful, but with a couple of these apps on your smartphone you'll likely find gift-giving less so. Your wallet might even thank you for it, too.