Why so much love for Apple?

[AK7 9]

The impression I have is that Evernote - both in terms of introducing features first, as well as making more products and add-ons available - focuses a lot more on Apple users than on Windows and Android people. And Linux are totally ignored. This is strange because Apple isn't very popular among the techies who no doubt constitute a significant share of Evernote's clients base.

 

Not complaining, policy is what it is. But I am curious as to what the reasons behind this are.

[bduncan 49]

This is a year old, but Plibin "sort of" touched on it: http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/19/evernote-by-the-numbers-34m-users-1-4m-paying-and-how-different-platforms-pay/. 

 

I also read another article once that said the Android revenue is inflated because of partner deals. 

 

So, I'd guess they are going where the money is (for now).

[gazumped 11,664]

...and I've seen comments that teams are tasked to get the best out of their individual operating systems and hardware without regard for what other teams are doing.  The Windows team has done quite well thank you,  and Android occasionally gets better than iOS perks...

 

Different hardware has different exploitable options. "Following the money" probably translates to not spending pointless hours trying to get an OS to bark like a dog if the only viable path is cat.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

The impression I have is that Evernote - both in terms of introducing features first, as well as making more products and add-ons available - focuses a lot more on Apple users than on Windows and Android people. And Linux are totally ignored. This is strange because Apple isn't very popular among the techies who no doubt constitute a significant share of Evernote's clients base.

 

Not complaining, policy is what it is. But I am curious as to what the reasons behind this are.

The products leapfrog one another. Sometimes Windows is ahead of Mac, sometimes behind. The same thing is true of iOS and Android. If you look through the forums, you'll see plenty of people (myself included) complaining about how great the Android app was compared to iOS. Even now without a major overhaul it still is better in some respects -- it has more sort options and more control over the sync (in part, this may be due to the operating system, I don't know).

As for the timing, Apple just put out a new iOS, and so the iOS version is ahead right now. Maybe, when Windows 8.1 comes out we'll see some buzz about a new Touch version. The same thing might be true for Mavericks and KitKat. The bigger the changes, the more likely Evernote is to do something big as well.

[jefito 5,589]

Yes, GM.

Oh, and Evernote has a pretty good idea of their segmentation among the various platforms. They all write home to Mama Evernote, after all.

[CaptainTime 94]

My guess would be that some of the founders are Mac users, and since they originally were creating this for themselves, they made sure they had Mac versions.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

My guess would be that some of the founders are Mac users, and since they originally were creating this for themselves, they made sure they had Mac versions.

I doubt that. I'm pretty sure Evernote has been on Windows from the very beginning and that they have been dedicated to the Windows platform. I am guessing that they have quite a few Windows users, especially in the Business realm, so it seems unlikely that Phil is kicking over the desks of the Windows team to make room for more Mac developers. Where were they when the Windows appstore opened? First in line with their app. I don't see the favoritism here.

If you look at the update timelines, it doesn't seem to bear out any conspiracy theory about Apple love either. In the last year (October to October), how many major updates have the platforms had? One a piece. If I am not mistaken, the two platforms have traded places over the years for the "first" to get major new updates.If anyone has numbers or data that tells a different story, I'd be glad to hear!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

My guess would be that some of the founders are Mac users, and since they originally were creating this for themselves, they made sure they had Mac versions.

Nope. Evernote the service is a spin off of EverNote (please note the capital E) the Windows only, payware app. The Windows only payware app was loved by those who loved it. But those who loved it were not enough to pay the bills & so EverNote was going to bite the dust. However, some smart person(s) decided to evolve it into Evernote the service. Clearly, that was a great decision. (NPI)

The link below talks about the beta reverting back to the free version after 90 days as well as a free version. But I don't know what the differences were between the free & paid versions.

http://freewarewiki.com/w/page/14934996/EverNote

[CaptainTime 94]

Ah, if the founders aren't Mac users, then I really don't know why there is such love for Macs. It could be because iPa/iPhone have a good chunk of the mobile market share so they figured they should support both that and Macs. Macs are only about 9.3% of desktop share, so I can't see that being as much of an attraction.

[jefito 5,589]

In terms of features, "Apple Love" seems like a myth to me. Read any cross-section of the forums going back over th years, and you'll see Mac users complaining about the lack of features that the Mac client has vs. the Windows client. In terms of new features, they've been leapfrogging each other; I think that the current Windows offering is lagging because they just rolled out a major new release.

But who knows? Maybe behind the scenes, they've determined that Apple users have a higher rate of conversion to premium accounts or some such and push a little harder there. But over the last few years, I haven't seen anything that makes me think that one platform is getting all, or even most, of the resources. It is hard to tell from outside, though.

[bduncan 49]

It could also be that because there is more of a historical codebase with the Windows client, it has been harder to innovate with the Windows version vs. the Mac version until recently. Technical debt etc. Anyone who has worked in the software industry will be familiar with this. (I wish I wasn't.)

[gazumped 11,664]

Seems to me that the "grass is always greener" syndrome applies to Evernote like anything else.  Android is different to iPhone and Apple is different to Windows.  We all like what we've got,  but would also like the best of everyone else's client too. Hooman Nature being what it is,  none of us will ever be fully satisfied...

[GaryLKing 46]

The various platform teams stay fairly close to each other in features.

It is true that whenever I watch a video or see pictures of work areas the machines are usually Macs. Apple appears to be the favored personal platform for the employees. It doesn't seem to interfere with keeping things pretty equal. Money is money, Windows and Android are probably pretty large contributors to the user base.

Regards,

Gary

[GER_TX 6]

I like my android version, and I don't even know what the apple version looks like and I am for sure don't care at this moment.

Would be different if I would work for them.

[evernote-fan 34]

The impression I have is that Evernote - both in terms of introducing features first, as well as making more products and add-ons available - focuses a lot more on Apple users than on Windows and Android people. 

 

I've asked myself the same question:

 

Last time, it seemed that the Mac development was preferred. And when you watch a video of Evernote they usually use a Mac. 

 

But BurgersNFries' post is very interesting as it said that EN was originally a Windows software. And the Android version was pretty much better than the iOS-Version...

 

After all, I guess that both Windows and Mac are developed in the same way and with the same speed - they get new features alternately...

[gazumped 11,664]

We were told at one point that Evernote assigns different teams to each client - makes sense,  since you don't want a Windows person coding iOS unless s/he's a specialist.  Each team is briefed to get the best performance out of their respective devices - so if there are differences,  it's at least as much due to the evolving capabilities of each OS and device as it is due to Evernote initially starting with one OS and having absorbed various others over the past few years.  Personally I'm going to try hard not to worry about it, while still reading other threads with insane jealously from time to time...

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

The impression I have is that Evernote - both in terms of introducing features first, as well as making more products and add-ons available - focuses a lot more on Apple users than on Windows and Android people. And Linux are totally ignored. This is strange because Apple isn't very popular among the techies who no doubt constitute a significant share of Evernote's clients base.

 

Not complaining, policy is what it is. But I am curious as to what the reasons behind this are.

 

There's always going to be "the grass is always greener/Mother always loved you best" syndrome going on, I suppose. 

 

First, here's a different POV:

 

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/49541-why-is-ioss-evernote-so-bad-compared-to-androids/

 

Second, the Windows client is considered my some as the gold standard, since it currently includes at least a few features the Mac/iOS users want.

[cwb 225]

At the moment if you compare betas though, I think the Mac side has taking pole position for this lap.

There's still inline image markup.  And now Natural language search.

 

Evernote as a company primarily uses Mac's internally.

Count the macbooks, iMac's, and iPad's in the interior office shots.

• http://officesnapshots.com/2013/07/22/inside-evernotes-new-redwood-city-offices/
• http://www.businessinsider.com/evernote-office-tour-2012-4?op=1

Market metrics though are that the PC market shrunk another 8% this year, but so did Mac desktop market share.

It's an Android/iPad world when it comes to unit sales though.

 

And yet you want to prioritize on those markets which will most buy your product.

 

Low end ultrabooks, and low to mid end android devices do contribute to unit sales growth.

Yet when studies compare post hardware purchase application/service sales, the iOS/MacOS platforms converts to higher application sales for 3rd party developers.  Often by at least a factor of 10.

 

And the iOS/MacOS shipments were almost as large as the PC shipments in 2013

 

The question isn't why Windows/Linux doesn't get more Evernote love, it's why Android doesn't.

I guess only Evernote based on how many Android devices convert to Premium can answer that.

[jefito 5,589]

The question isn't why Windows/Linux doesn't get more Evernote love, it's why Android doesn't.

I guess only Evernote based on how many Android devices convert to Premium can answer that.

It's pretty clear that Windows gets somewhat more love than Linux, since there is no Evernote Linux client at all. In terms of new feature (sexy?) development, Mac seems to be getting it, but for my usage, the Windows client remains very useful, and still -- as noted -- has some features that the Mac client doesn't. Since I'm not really panting for natural language search, it's not a big deal for me.

The Android thing may be a by-product of the hardware fragmentation situation. I do find the Android client to be a nice and useful, albeit mainly read-only except for photos, Evernote client, based on my use on the smaller form factors (phone and 7" tablet), and little actual need to create any significant content on these devices.

[cwb 225]

Indeed, Linux was included to address the OP's opening query.

 

I haven't taken my Lenovo tablet off the desk, much less out of the office in going on 2 years now.

The iPad gets the work done.  Even at my desk at the moment in Evernote.

Until image markup makes it back into the Windows betas, I'm clipping in windows, then syncing and marking up on the iPad, so that I can sync back to Windows, and continue on.

 

Or even if I'm doing a quick lookup or a maintenance thing in Active Directory, it's quicker to do it on the iPad then bringing up the admin tools in Windows.

Likewise for quick (especially structured) Evernote entries.