Creating Order from Chaos with Evernote

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Notes from Cameras and Scanners

It's not just Evernote's features but also its partnerships with other companies that are winning it new users. Eye-Fi, a memory card that also gives cameras a Wi-Fi connection, lets you send pictures directly to your Evernote account. A new feature harnesses the GPS chips found in many phones to plot your location on a Google (GOOG) map. Evernote is also bundled with Sony Ericsson's Experia X1 smartphone, and soon it will be bundled with Fujitsu's (6702.T) Scansnap line of desktop document scanners. Deals with notebook PC makers and more phone manufacturers are in the offing, Libin says. "This is the digital equivalent of the napkin you make notes on," says Michael Gartenberg, a digital media analyst and vice-president at Interpret, a consultancy. "This is the type of tool for people who want to capture all that stuff and save it. But what really makes it useful is that it's on the phone, which you have with you all the time."

Indeed, while 64% of the tool's users rifle through their Evernote stuff on their PCs or Macs, more than half get into their accounts from both computers and phones, with iPhone owners leading the pack. The latest version of Evernote's iPhone application was downloaded 260,000 times in the first four days after Apple released its upgrade to the iPhone operating system. Tens of thousands of BlackBerry and Palm Pre users have downloaded it for their devices.

Currently, Evernote accepts audio files—say an MP3 recording of a meeting or interview, or voice memos recorded on a phone. It soon will include a feature to turn spoken words into searchable text, Libin says. Searchable video no doubt will follow.

As feature-rich and popular as it is, Evernote certainly has competitors. Microsoft's OneNote is a popular application for Windows PCs and, among other things, mimics a paper notebook, letting those who have tablet PCs keep track of notes they "write" on the screen with a handheld stylus. On the Mac apps like Soho Notes, Circus Ponies, and Yojimbo are also aimed at organizing collections of miscellaneous stuff into an organized and searchable pile.

Still, Evernote is winning endorsements that likely will enhance its appeal. Guy Kawasaki, a venture capitalist who is also CEO and founder of the Web site Alltop.com, uses Evernote to keep track of myriad usernames, passwords, even travel details. "Any time I get an e-mail containing an airline reservation it goes into Evernote," he says. "I just fire it off and forget it."

Hesseldahl is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.

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