Apple has long offered the ability for customers to purchase gift cards online and instantly send them to people via email. The company, however, appears to have recently removed the option from its website in the United States. Oddly enough, the email delivery method is still available in other countries.
At this point, it’s unclear why Apple has removed the email gift card feature in the United States. It could very well be a mistake, but the company has not yet commented on the change. The option is still available in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, which lends credibility to theory that the change was a mistake on Apple’s part (via MacRumors).
Further suggesting that the removal was not intentional, both email gift cards and physical gift cards remain an option from retailers such as Target. On Apple’s site, however, the ability to have gift cards delivered by snail mail is all that remains.
More often than not, buying gift cards from Apple directly is not the best and most affordable way to go about the process in the first place. As we cover routinely on 9to5Toys, other retailers and eBay dealers often offer discounted iTunes gift cards, usually with email delivery. Be sure to keep an eye on 9to5Toys for all of those deals, especially now that Apple has seemingly stopped offering email delivery.
