(Archived) We need updates to the webOS client

[markda2000 0]

Come on Evernote you have a great product on the PC, and I have been using Evernote since before it's current configuration even, maybe four or five years, but we need a platform for webOS that does justice to your other builds.

[jbenson2 2,147]

To help explain the situation a bit more clearly, take a look at the Evernote blog announcement about hitting 4 million users

http://blog.evernote.com/2010/08/17/4-m ... -counting/

The 2nd chart shows the current status of Evernote Mobile Usage by Platform.

The WebOS / PalmOS is half a percent.

Yes, you could say it is due to the problems caused by Evernote, but based on the uncertainty of the future of Palm Pre, I can understand why their priorities are in other areas with a higher demand.

[jefito 5,589]

Several posts on the topic. Here's one: http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=18220&p=75238&hilit=webos#p75230

[aboutwebos 0]

To help explain the situation a bit more clearly, take a look at the Evernote blog announcement about hitting 4 million users

http://blog.evernote.com/2010/08/17/4-m ... -counting/

The 2nd chart shows the current status of Evernote Mobile Usage by Platform.

The WebOS / PalmOS is half a percent.

Yes, you could say it is due to the problems caused by Evernote, but based on the uncertainty of the future of Palm Pre, I can understand why their priorities are in other areas with a higher demand.

First, nothing in those statistics answers the question of why Evernote hasn't fixed existing and serious bugs that are causing users to lose data. There's simply no excuse for keeping such a broken app in the Palm App Catalog for new users to download, and for failing to communicate with current users that the app is no longer being supported. This simply is not the same thing as choosing not to enhance the existing app with new features.

Second, there's little actual uncertainty about the future of webOS (the Pre itself is entirely incidental). HP is making tremendous investments in the platform, and only someone who's hidden under a rock for the last few months could conclude that the platform doesn't have a serious chance at being tremendously successful. We're going to see a major update in webOS 2.0 along with new smartphones by the end of the year, and a webOS tablet in Q1 2011. webOS is uniformly recognized as perhaps the best mobile OS on the market, and virtually everyone recognizes that HP's financial resources and scale will make a huge difference in the platform's success. Evernote is being incredibly shortsighted by failing to recognize the platform's potential.

And yes, it's an entirely valid point that the dearth of webOS users might very well be due to Evernote's poor support and promotion of the app. webOS does have at least 2 million users, by most accounts, and the number of competing offerings on the platform are indeed fewer. Therefore, it's a very poor showing that Evernote--otherwise the best-known solution of its kind--isn't being used on a much larger percentage of webOS devices. And seriously--how much of an investment would it take to at least maintain an acceptable status quo by fixing the existing bugs?

[alangant 0]

You've made strides to update your other mobile clients. Now, complete the work by updating your WebOS client. HP/Palm will have new devices soon, a tablet early next year, and WebOS 2.0 before the end of the year. With all this activity, and strong support for the platform, it just makes sense for Evernote to step up and treat WebOS as one of its core platforms. I use Evernote on every device/computer I touch, and the WebOS client is feature-poor and buggy. Please help soon!

Alan

[aboutwebos 0]

You've made strides to update your other mobile clients. Now, complete the work by updating your WebOS client. HP/Palm will have new devices soon, a tablet early next year, and WebOS 2.0 before the end of the year. With all this activity, and strong support for the platform, it just makes sense for Evernote to step up and treat WebOS as one of its core platforms. I use Evernote on every device/computer I touch, and the WebOS client is feature-poor and buggy. Please help soon!

Alan

Agreed, and the webOS community is still waiting for some kind of commitment either way.

[BasieBand 42]

Everyone agrees. Please continue to support WebOS.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Agreed, and the webOS community is still waiting for some kind of commitment either way.

The link Jefito posted is recent (~2 weeks old) and I'd guess that's the closest thing to a commitment you're going to get for a while.

[engberg 89]

Thanks for the interest and the feedback.

[artiztik 0]

Thanks for the interest and the feedback.

Wow.

[alangant 0]

Congratulations on your round C funding! We sure hope improving your HP webOS client is high on your list! I love evernote on all my platforms, but if it doesn't work reliably on my smartphone, I'll have to switch to something else.

Thanks,

Alan

[BasieBand 42]

It is really incredible and short-term thinking to just ignore the webOS platform. Your "thanks for the info" responses have really dampened my enthusiasm for Evernote. I have stopped promoting it to others and am re-thinking my long-term reliability on the product. I'm sure you will abandon any other platform that is no longer in vogue.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

It is really incredible and short-term thinking to just ignore the webOS platform. Your "thanks for the info" responses have really dampened my enthusiasm for Evernote. I have stopped promoting it to others and am re-thinking my long-term reliability on the product. I'm sure you will abandon any other platform that is no longer in vogue.

1. Dave posts a lot of the "Thank you for the feedback" responses. You may look at it as condescending, but really, what else is there to say if he's acknowledging message board comments? He's also posted several times that EN appreciates all feedback, even the negative feedback:

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=11237&p=79574&hilit=feedback+appreciate#p79574

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=11237&p=79567&hilit=feedback+appreciate#p79567

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=19145&p=79054&hilit=feedback+appreciate#p79054

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=18380&p=75405&hilit=feedback+appreciate#p75405

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=9662&p=72166&hilit=feedback+appreciate#p72166

(etc, etc, etc.)

There's only so much one can say. It's kind of like sending thank you notes for wedding gifts. After a while, there's just only so much you can say without saying it the same way two, three, four times. ("Thank you for the hollowed out, painted gourd container thing. It will always have a special place in our hearts.") But unlike wedding gifts, where an end is in sight & all the recipients (normally) don't compare the notes they've received, he does this on a nearly daily basis, in a public forum and it's ongoing.

2. I don't know the status of EN on WebOS. But IT factors (that would be "IT" as in "IT" rather than "eye tee") are not part of what platforms get updated today, tomorrow, next week. Some of it is resources and certainly some of it is the future of the platform. I've not kept up with the status of WebOS. But certainly, the last I knew, it was tenuous. So...when working with limited resources (as most companies as well as individuals not named Paris Hilton do), you have to allocate & prioritize. If WebOS is still uncertain, it's certainly not a wise business decision to invest a lot of EN resources in product development for that platform.

[engberg 89]

I read every post on the forum (and other employees read a lot of the forum), but that's not always obvious to users reading a single thread unless they see a "red post." So I like to indicate "I've read this, and we really do appreciate people providing information about problems and expressing their interests for future developments" whenever possible so that you know that we're listening.

My posts are generally sarcasm-free, so take "Thank you" at face value.

We aren't ruling out future work on WebOS, and we appreciate the input from the group of WebOS users.

Thanks