AG Interactive, a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation, announced the launch of a new mobile e-card service that allows users to send specially designed greeting cards to mobile phones. The service is compatible with most of the major mobile operators in the U.S. and will be offered initially for free to registered users of AmericanGreetings.com.

The mobile e-card service, enabled by a partnership between AG Interactive and Image Semantics, allows users to choose from a list of available full-color, animated greeting cards and send them to cell phones. Users can access the service online here. After selecting the desired card, users can customize it with whatever text they like and then send it to friends. Upon doing so, the recipient receives a handset discovery message on his phone that detects the type of phone used and the wireless carrier and asks for permission to send the e-card. After the recipient responds back, the service delivers the mobile e-card in a format best-suited for that particular phone and the wireless network used.

"Offering mobile e-cards is yet another way we are incorporating innovation and new technology into our products to ensure there's something for every way people want to communicate today," said Sally Babcock, Senior Vice President and General Manager at AG Interactive. "We're excited that we've been able to leverage our expertise and creativity in the online and e-card realms to the world of cellular technology thanks to our partnership with Image Semantics."

The new service features at launch a collection of 11 birthday e-cards and 9 anytime e-cards. AG Interactive will add new greeting cards to the collection throughout the fall and winter, including specially designed mobile e-cards for Halloween, Christmas and other holidays. AmericanGreetings.com subscribers can send the e-cards for free, but recipients may be charged a fee by their mobile operators, typically ranging from 10 to 30 cents depending on their messaging plan.