Apple’s Cards app allows you to take photos and have them printed up as cards from anywhere on the planet. But can you use it to print explicit card images? Short answer: No. Long answer: Probably not, and please don’t send me the results if you do.
Apple gave me a demo of its cards products just after launch; while I can’t think of too many instances where I’d personally drop $4.99 on one of them, that’s got more to do with my innate desire to save a penny rather than spend it. I couldn’t fault the print quality or utility of the service per se. Nice if you like that kind of thing, in other words.
I was, however, a little curious as to how Apple was working as a gatekeeper for the service. Sure, most folks will just take pictures of Junior on the beach, or the Eiffel tower or what have you, but then there are those other folks. You know who you are. Beyond even the “taking pictures of your junk” aspect, there’s also the tricky question of copyright. An enterprising IP pirate could photograph an existing card, or a movie still, or whatever took their fancy.
So I posed the question as politely as I could, and awaited a response. Here’s the official line from Apple
The restrictions on what will be printed on Cards are the same as for our other print products and are posted here:
http://www.apple.com/internetservices/terms/membership_terms.html
Although Apple encourages you to use the Services to express your creativity, Apple reserves the right to refuse to process any order submitted by you containing Content that Apple, in its sole discretion, deems abusive, defamatory, obscene, in violation of copyright or trademark laws, or otherwise offensive, illegal, inappropriate or unacceptable, including any material Apple believes may cause any liability for it under any applicable law or regulation, or which may cause Apple to lose the services of any supplier may provide part as of the Services or in connection with fulfilling any order for Products. In particular, Apple reserves the right to refuse to process orders containing Content which, in Apple’s sole opinion, contains expressions of abuse, offensive language or images, obscenity or pornography (including but not limited to child abuse or child pornography, and/or depictions of minors engaged in sexual conduct or explicitly sexual situations).
By submitting Content to Apple, you are representing that you are the owner of such material, or have proper authorization from the owner of the Content to distribute it. You hereby grant Apple a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use the Content for the limited purpose of processing your order for Products through the Services. Said license will terminate upon fulfillment of your order.