Where’s Evernote Going?
I’d prefer if Evernote went Full Monty with these acquisitions. Integrate Sktich image editing into Evernote. Provide direct support for Penultimate sketching in Evernote. Both of these apps have overlap with the reasons I want to use the Evernote app. I’d like Evernote to stop buying sharing buttons and start buying Evernote enhancements.
Following yesterday’s news of Evernote acquiring Penultimate, I wrote:
With the acquisition of Penultimate, it’ll be interesting to see whether Evernote will also make changes to its own iPad app to include deeper integration with the standalone handwriting software, and if the main Evernote interface will gain new filtering tools to better organize text notes and handwritten ones (which already support optical character recognition for search when saved to Evernote).
I am a big fan of Evernote – I use the service every day – and I was hoping the Skitch acquisition would bring deeper integration with Evernote notebooks and desktop app, too. Like Don, I wasn’t impressed with Skitch for iPad either.
If Evernote really wants to stay around for the next 100 years, they have to build a solid foundation of connected apps now.
As Evernote moves beyond just “notes” and embraces a wider approach with apps that leverage your account’s data in different ways, the company will need to figure out a way to let users effortlessly manage and export these bits of data no matter the Evernote app they are using. As Macdrifter notes, it doesn’t make sense that all Skitch has got is an Evernote sharing button. Standalone Evernote apps shouldn’t be second class citizens. Here’s to hoping the same won’t happen with Penultimate, and that Evernote is considering major improvements to Skitch.
To understand Evernote’s renewed direction, the company’s homepage comes in handy:
Save your ideas, things you like, things you hear, and things you see.
Evernote believes such functions need separate apps; I hope these dedicated tools will soon turn into a mature, integrated ecosystem that can stand the test of time.