Evernote announces new products

Evernote, the Silicon Valley-based company that sells a suite of software and services designed for note-taking and archiving, announced on Oct 2 to its 100 million global users that two work-focused features will be added to its apps this fall.

At the same time, the head of Evernote's China operation was sounding quite upbeat about the company's market potential in the world's second-largest economy.

The company got its first foothold in China two and half years ago with the launch of its Chinese version called Yinxiang Biji (Mandarin for "memory notes").

"We have so far about 11 million users in China, which accounts for 11 percent of our entire users worldwide," said Amy Gu, Evernote's general manager in China. "We have every reason to believe that the momentum will remain strong."

China has surpassed Japan long ago and become Evernote's second-largest market, next to the US.

In line with the social network boom in China, Evernote decided to cement partnerships with Tencent and Sina and many other local industry players. "With these partnerships, Chinese users are able to 'like' Yinxiang Biji within their tweets," said Gu, adding that these were only a few examples of their localization.

"Our China office is small but perfectly formed," said Gu, adding that she and her 24-member team did not really consider any company in China as Evernote's competitor.

"I don't have the time or interest to direct my thoughts that way," she said. Instead, she has her sights set on converting those non-users into loyal customers. "Just think about it, we still have hundreds of millions potential customers down the road. Isn't that exciting?"

Claiming they are dedicated to providing the best - instead of the least worst - solutions to users, Evernote CEO Phil Libin centered his two-hour keynote speech at the EC 4 conference on the company's two new features, Context and Work Chat, which will be made available on all major platforms (Android, iOS, Mac OS and Windows) later this year.

Context displays information immediately relevant to work as it's being done in Evernote, and Work Chat will enable quick and effective sharing, communication and collaboration between individuals and teams, said Libin.

Most of the software and apps we use for work today are based on metaphors that were created decades ago, said Libin, adding Evernote represents a significant leap forward in workplace productivity, changing the game of workflow into an efficient collaboration in the context of a wealth of knowledge.

Libin also introduced a partnership with Dow Jones that will allow contextually relevant content from the Wall Street Journal and Factiva media service to be displayed within Evernote.

In addition, it has introduced Scannable, a new stand-alone iOS application that makes transforming paper to digital possible using the camera on the phone, as well as a redesigned Penultimate handwriting app, and several new physical products for the Evernote Market.

junechang@chindailyusa.com