Year App Store: the experience of Evernote

Evernote does not need a separate view, this is one of the most popular programs for storage and retrieval of information. We are discussing with the head office in Evernote Russia Dmitry App Store application store Staviski and its influence on the development of Evernote.

The App Store a year old. 65,000 applications 1.5 billion. Downloads... success is obvious. Tell us what impact the App Store has had on business Evernote? How do the people of different platforms has changed?

App Store not only had a significant influence on the development of our product, but to some extent adjusted our plans for its promotion and positioning. In a good way, of course. our software for iPhone client (Link to iTunes) liked not only users, but also Apple's, because involved to the maximum capabilities of the phone, clearly demonstrating the functionality. The company on its own initiative has placed a link to Evernote on your site, arranged the figures of our "elephants" of the Apple Store in the US and Evernote preset demo phones.

The decision to make a version for the iPhone turned into something crucial for our services, the ratio of our users have changed dramatically. If, before the App Store, it looked like: Web - 44%, Windows - 21%, Mac OS - 19% now Windows - 36%, Mac OS - 28% and iPhone - 20%. It is normalized to 100% performance, as users often use Evernote on two or more platforms.

We recently broke the mark of one million users, so that a very large number of fans to get acquainted with our service Evernote using the AppStore. the iPhone-version of success reminded us of the situation that prevailed when we made a desktop client for Mac OS. You know, when you are just entering the market, and if you have the problem of choosing the platforms on which you want to be presented, always there is a temptation to concentrate on niche audiences with maximum coverage: Web, the Windows, as they say, is not being exchanged at detail. And this approach is not always justified.

It is not just about more or less competitive. Users Mac OS, iPhone users form a very tight-knit community, exchange of information and experiences about the new software comes surprisingly intense. And you are wondering how soon hundreds of thousands of people are beginning to refer to the category of your application must have.

In Evernote accumulated rich experience in mobile application development (there are versions for the Palm Pre, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile). How much harder or easier to develop applications for the iPhone?

The development of any new client Evernote - very responsible and not an easy process for us because we carefully examine the opportunity and the platform, each time the function thinking about how to apply them more fully in Evernote. You can see for yourself that our application for all these mobile OS you are not clones. Each was made taking into account the possibilities of the platform and its features.

The effectiveness of development for the iPhone in this case is high for two reasons. Firstly, we have to deal with the SDK in the perfect stage of maturity - 3.0 new, modern, and not burdened with the heavy legacy of the past, but already quite mature, with a broad community of developers, understanding how and what to do, for the most part caught errors. Second, we actively employ code reuse between versions of Evernote for iPhone and Mac OS X, so for developers who have to deal with each of these platforms, the gain in productivity is particularly noticeable.

In Palm Web OS has some interesting features and good prospects, but this platform is still too new to talk about comparable c iPhone productivity for developers. You need to give this platform at least another year.

BB, WM and Symbian - it's much more than the old platform, and they lack a number of modern niceties that have the iPhone and Palm. At the same time, handset manufacturers are aware of this, are taking aggressive steps to improve its platform, so their early to dismiss.

We have all heard of cases where Apple has not allowed the application in App Store. Sometimes because of fear of competition, and sometimes because of the desire to protect users from unwanted content (for this reason that even some banned books for readers). Have you encountered any problems?

No, we did not refuse to place the application in the App Store, simply because it seems to me, there was no reason to do so. Our customers work in Evernote with his notes, with their own content, they are often created on the same phone. Well, the competition default Apple applications running, we did not create. By the way, we generally tight competitors :) You can find a variety of services and programs (including App Store), which partially duplicate the functionality of Evernote, but quite simply the complete analogue not.

A bit distracted from the topic, it should be noted that, of course, there is always the temptation to seize the popular theme, make another variation of a software in the hope that users will appreciate your particular program.

A simple example - see how many engineering calculators or Anglo-Russian phrasebooks accumulated in the App Store. The problem is that it will initially be a secondary product, there will be no fresh idea, and you will have to find a place in the already thoroughly filled the niche, instead of creating a own.

Apple is constantly developing App Store, for example, the opportunity to buy content from the application. What are the next steps you think should take the company? What the App Store now missing?

Apple has already made the most important, creating App Store, a unique and highly effective platform for the dissemination of mobile software.

We would be happy to improvements in areas such as payment processing, improved visual presentation of statistics and promotion of results, as well as I would like to speed up the approval process updates (although now the speed is impressive when you consider the number of applications that Apple constantly have test). But even in its current form AppStore - is the best thing ever offered independent developers of mobile applications.

Also in the current implementation of the AppStore, you can not offer the user a free version of the app with the ability to upgrade directly from it. If Apple will add this opportunity, we would like to use it, as it will make the update process even easier than it is now.

Following Apple plans to open its stores and other handset makers. Can they repeat the success of App Store? Which one do you think of new stores promising?

Apple has been able to realize, perhaps, at the moment the most effective distribution model mobile software, so it is not surprising that now the approach App Store is becoming the de facto industry standard.

One can only welcome the development of application stores for other platforms. We successfully work in BB AppWorld sites, Palm Pre, SE and plan to expand this list, as are releasing apps for new platforms. In this case, BB, SE, WM, Nokia and others have much heavier than Apple (and Palm), because the applications in these stores must be compatible with a much wider model range of phones and allows for a wider geography distribution.

If you pay attention to the desktop applications, there is now rarely achieve success single, basically commands. As this is the case the App Store? Is it possible to write the programmer is now really popular program?

Open Top popular apps in the AppStore, and look at the name of the developer. There is not only the company's brands, studios or groups, but also quite a lot of names. Approximately every fifth program. However, it is clear that quite a complicated and feature-rich application alone to develop in a reasonable time is unlikely to succeed. And those people who were able to achieve success in most cases did not scale, but the original program, which is estimated users. A good idea is no less important than the team.

When the App Store only to work, showered success stories, like the one a programmer good money in a short time. Now the number of applications more than 65,000. a huge competition. Can you give tips for new developers? How to get into the list of featured apps?

1. Try to make contact with Apple employees responsible for your app in the App Store. Be with them polite and friendly, each one works with a large number of developers. Take their advice very seriously, and if they are advised to make a difference in the application, it is better to do it quickly.
2. Do not forget that in the App Store applications are distributed to five different devices: iPhone first generation, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, as well as the iPod Touch first and second generation. Think carefully about how your application will run on each of these devices.
3. Remember that the tariff plans in different countries can be very different.
4. Do not spare money, time and effort on the icon of your application. I'm serious.
5. Think about how to integrate your application with Evernote. This can be done through our API, and on the side of our server and on the client side. Write a good application, which will somehow interacting with Evernote, and we are pleased to begin to promote you among our customers.