Evernote's fall from grace is complete, with sale to Italian app maker
- Reference: 1668666606
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/11/17/evernotes_fall_from_grace_ends/
- Source link:
It's an ignoble end for once-great Evernote, which as recently as 2018 – its tenth anniversary – boasted some [1]225 million registered users . It's unclear how many are using the app now, with Bending Spoons only saying in a [2]press release that the app has "millions of paying customers."
Ian Small, CEO at Evernote, [3]said the decision was a strategic step forward for Evernote, and that Bending Spoons "has built a remarkable business with strong financials and has the ability and resources to propel Evernote forward."
[4]
"Our commitment to keeping your data safe and secure remains as steadfast as ever, and the Evernote you know and love will continue to thrive," Small said.
[5]
[6]
Bending Spoons has several mobile apps on offer that it says are used by around 100 million users a month. Its products include several video and photo editing apps, as well as workout and yoga apps. Bending Spoons was also contracted by the Italian government to build [7]its COVID-19 tracing app .
The quiet, gradual fall of a titan
When Evernote appeared in 2008 it was one of the first cloud-synced note-taking apps on the market, making it an immediate favorite for folks using a hot new [8]iPhone 3G or [9]T-Mobile G1 alongside a desktop for work.
The company had a blissful few years of growth – aside from the occasional [10]cloud hack or [11]DDoS attack – and didn't really start to earn much user ire until 2016, when it chose to bring the ax down on its free tier.
The "basic" tier of Evernote introduced that year limited users that didn't want to pay to syncing just two devices and uploading only 60MB of content per month. As of [12]today , free tier users are also limited to a 25MB max size per note.
[13]Happy 10th birthday, Evernote: You have survived Google and Microsoft. For your next challenge...
[14]Evernote dumps its own bit barn, boards Google's cloud
[15]Kids, look at the Deep Learnings! (We’re just going to slurp your data)
[16]'So sorry' Evernote rips up privacy changes
2016 was arguably the year things turned for Evernote. It's also the year Evernote finally [17]ditched its in-house cloud service and moved to Google Cloud, and the year the company made what was probably [18]its worst blunder .
In December 2016, Evernote told users it had developed an AI system that would review notes, as well as data from other sources, which it would use to tailor user experiences. Evernote staff were also going to be able to access user notes under the update.
[19]
Needless to say, there was a massivre outcry, and many people dropped the platform. Evernote [20]reversed its plans , which also included users needing to opt out of its privacy invasion, within a day of rolling them out.
Fast forward to 2020, and headlines regarding Evernote mainly consisted of wondering [21]what became of the once-dominant platform. Evernote did plan a comeback in 2020 with the release of its version 10, but reactions to the total redesign in the release appear to have been overwhelmingly [22]negative – at least from vocal users.
Now, Evernote is barely a blip on the mobile app radar. On iOS, for instance, it doesn't even rank among the top 100 productivity apps.
[23]
Small points out yet another reason Evernote may have lost its luster over the past few years: A lack of new features. "Our new collaborative editing capability … is in early days of beta testing around the world. At the same time, we are within weeks of beta-ing our new support for Office 365 calendars," Small said. Collaborative document editing has been around [24]for a long time , and isn't necessarily something to brag about in 2022.
Whether Evernote will emerge from this sale stronger is unclear. Nor is it clear what changes in terms of pricing and features may come out of the sale. Evernote users – however numerous or few they may be – will have to wait until 2023 when the sale closes to find out. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2018/07/12/happy_10th_birthday_evernote/
[2] https://www.prweb.com/releases/bending_spoons_to_acquire_renowned_productivity_app_evernote_to_enhance_suite_of_consumer_facing_digital_products/prweb19024575.htm
[3] https://evernote.com/blog/evernote-next-move-joining-bending-spoons/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y3YUSVCXhPP0NRAzmzpULQAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y3YUSVCXhPP0NRAzmzpULQAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y3YUSVCXhPP0NRAzmzpULQAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://github.com/immuni-app/immuni-documentation
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2008/07/18/review_apple_3g_iphone/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2008/11/12/review_smartphone_android_g1/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2013/03/04/evernote_password_reset/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2014/06/11/evernote_dos_attack/
[12] https://evernote.com/compare-plans
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2018/07/12/happy_10th_birthday_evernote/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2016/09/15/evernote_dumps_its_own_bit_barn_boards_googles_cloud/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2016/12/15/kids_look_at_the_deep_learnings_were_just_going_to_slurp_your_data/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2016/12/16/so_sorry_evernote_rips_up_privacy_changes/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2016/09/15/evernote_dumps_its_own_bit_barn_boards_googles_cloud/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2016/12/15/kids_look_at_the_deep_learnings_were_just_going_to_slurp_your_data/
[19] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y3YUSVCXhPP0NRAzmzpULQAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2016/12/16/so_sorry_evernote_rips_up_privacy_changes/
[21] https://www.engadget.com/evernote-cross-platform-note-taking-app-redesign-interview-130026972.html
[22] https://discussion.evernote.com/forums/topic/129609-v10-absolutely-awful-back-to-625-for-me/
[23] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y3YUSVCXhPP0NRAzmzpULQAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[24] https://drive.googleblog.com/2010/04/a-rebuilt-more-real-time-google.html
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Joplin
As title. Works well for me.
Re: Joplin
Seconded, and I can use whatever cloud service I want for sync.
It's so good that I worry that it can't stay free for ever - I did give a small donation.
Re: Joplin
Yeah, me too.
It was the train-crash that was Evernote V10 that pushed me over to Joplin.
It has a few oddities, but it's free and it does the job.
Re: Joplin
I did the same, though I haven't completed my migration to Joplin. I was a paying EN user since 2007 but stopped when V10 came out.
Irrelevant
> Frustrate enough users and your product will fall.
Yes, but you're forgetting the prime requirement is to be "disruptive" and to break things (while moving too fast in random directions)...
Re: Irrelevant
Looks like some "disruption" may be just around the corner...
" another reason Evernote may have lost its luster over the past few years: A lack of new features. "
New Features. Because that's what we're all crying out for from a Notepad app, right?
Re: Irrelevant
It's a note-taking app. What else it will bring? E-mail?
Zawinki's Law...
“Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can.”
Found an interesting explanation recently
It's been dubbed the [1]trust thermocline.
[1] https://mastodon.social/@garius/109279394369832433
Re: Found an interesting explanation recently
Very interesting - thanks for bringing that term to our attention. A combination of this and "biting the hand that feeds you" is probably behind a good number of failures.
Of course, when "biting the hand that feeds you" is what your users love and have come to expect... and then you stop doing that very thing, might also be a reason why other things (well, one in particular - not mentioning any names) feel like they are slowly failing and fading away.
Obviously, it can't have been worth it, for me, paying for when Evernote decided to limit the free tier to two devices as I switched to (eek!) OneNote in 2016. Veery happy with the experience, good UI, cross-platform, no device limit....
That's the thing, isn't it? After the obligatory three or four versions, MS finally knocked together a good enough copy and made it available for free which is enough to paper over the rest of the deficiencies.
So it went with IE, so they did with OneNote, and so they're doing with Teams.
You're either bought out by Apple, Microsoft, or Google or you just get trodden underfoot. Perhaps Evernote's management were lucky.
It was a great application for just jotting stuff down in. It was lovely to use. But it became far too interested in trying to extract more money from me, constant emails demanding money, the tightening of the screws of how many devices could use it.
In the end I just migrated it to Simple Note and haven't looked back.
It’s a familiar story
1 Make an application
2 Improve it steadily and garner a loyal user base
3 Wait a few years with nobody complaining
4 Start to mess with the app. Nothing too bad at first
5 Decide to “improve” the app by completely reworking it
6 New “improved” app is now a dog’s dinner
7 Throw in some privacy-invading features for no discernible legitimate reason
8 Completely hack-off your users who leave en-mass
9 Sell app at a knock-down price to some big corporation “to move the product forward”
10 After a couple of years, kill the app and write it off as a tax loss
Re: Sounds like MS Office for Android that came pre-installed. No connectivity? Now unusable.
Sounds like Microsoft Office for Android that came pre-installed on my phone.
Used if fine for several years, saving files locally, without the need for a Microsoft Account, with no mobile network / Wifi.
Now I'm constantly prompted to create a Microsoft Account to even access the existing files I created and as read only. I don't want to use it with a Microsoft Account because I don't always have a mobile signal with my phone when I'm out and about, plus this software came pre-installed and features that were in the original preinstalled product have now been removed.
The UK is still absolutely shite for Mobile even 5 miles from the centre of most towns, if the terrain is hilly.
Microsoft employees, you live in a bubble that doesn't match any reality I know.
Why aren't regulators bringing Microsoft to task for this, forcing Microsoft accounts, forcing lock out unless users provide a phone number, on the pretence of some fake security issue, something as basic as clearing cookies. Not fit for purpose, none of them.
I know I'm supposed to be technically literate but I can't get my tiny mind around what the advantages are of collaborative editing. It appears to my limited intellect as nothing more than a dogs dinner producing dogs dinners. There's no overall point if document ownership or responsibility for a polished final product.
I've seen the results of collaborative editing and they've been dire, with a mishmash of writing style, fonts, paragraph styles, justification, bulleting, numbering - the works.
I couldn't let stuff like that go to customers and in the end the tool that became the one of choice was serial input to a document with teach changes enabled and the release via one defined person.
It's probably something like how collaborative editing should work but that's not how it happens out of the box.
I hate to fly the flag for Confluence, but it actually does this pretty well. I think because formatting is relatively constrained, you don't have to worry about some sort of Geocities abomination being produced, the way you do with Word.
14 years? [shakes head in disbelief]
One of those many millions of registered users for most of those 14 years. Have not used it for, I dunno, 10 years? Roughly from the second time they did something to p**s me off.
> wondering what became of the once-dominant platform
The people in charge thought, "Ooh! Shiny!" and pursued shiny.
Funnily enough
My Dad who’s never met a click box he can say no to just phoned me to ask what Evernote is as the latest browser hijacker he has inadvertently installed keeps trying to prompt him to install it.
How the mighty have fallen.