On May 22, 2008, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a new Apple patent application relating to a new twist on gift cards and their carriers.

More particularly, the present invention relates to improved packaging of gift cards via gift card carriers. Specifically, Apple sees an opportunity to combine a traditional manifold type of greeting card such as those found at Hallmark with a standard thin plastic gift card enclosed. While Apple admits that the old gift card concept worked well, they state that “it is desirable to improve the packaging and aesthetical appearance of the gift cards and their carriers in order to make them appear more gift like. It is believed that this will increase sales of gift cards as well as make the recipient feel better about their gift (e.g., more thoughtful gift).”   Stay tuned – more to come.