Evernote App Competition

By Odessa Fernandez

Evernote, a suite of software and services designed for notetaking, decided to host their very first app competition open to the public. Despite their novice position in the industry, over 1,000 developers from around the country submitted apps, ranging from simple, clean, and efficient apps, to superfluous and creatively driven apps.

With $100,000 of prize money at stake, contestants are particularly excited with Evernote’s App Competition not only because of the opportunity to patent and integrate their app to Evernote’s already strong base of 11 million users, but each of the 6 finalists secure $5,000 each, with the Grand Prize Winner walking away with $50,000 dollars.

Critics are not surprised with Evernote’s move to engage the public with a competition like this; competition is healthy and is always in the best interest of the public. It promotes competitive spirit within the industry, as each competitor continually tries to outdo one another with new features and gizmos –enter Google+ and Facebook-.

And let’s not forget how receptive the public was with the competition. With such a positive response from the public with the high number of app submissions, as well as the high levels of creativity it has fostered from all over the spectrum, this may very well turn into an annual competition for Evernote.

Of course like every competition there are strict criteria that have to be met in order to advance further on in the competition, and some key criteria for Evernote’s App Competition are: the level of finish and polish of each application, its utility, originality, and integration of the application with the Evernote platform.

At this point, the applicants have been narrowed down to six finalists; Colorstache, MyWorld, Notablemeals, Sniptastic, Touchanote, Zendone.

Colorstache is one of the more fluffy and whimsical finalists, as it gives users a fun way to browse through their notes—by color. This would definitely appeal to the artistic and technologically savvy Evernote user.

MyWorld allows Evernote users to save their favorite places and see them in a map on Facebook. This app would be useful for the Evernote user that has a zest for life and enjoys sharing their adventures with friends and family.

Notablemeals gives Evernote users the ability to record every aesthetic moment of their dining experience and format it all into one concise note. This app appeals to the Evernote foodie that enjoys taking pictures of their meals and would usually review a restaurant on Yelp after they eat.

Sniptastic lets users share and organize code snippets, with both web view and the option for a plugin for Visual studio. This app would most appeal to the computer geeks that know computer code and would want easy access to ‘snippets’ of them in one, easy-to-get-to, note.

Touchanote connects the capture and organization capabilities of Evernote with the efficiency and convenience of physical NFC tags. This is extremely appealing to individuals that are always on the go and want easy access to notes by the simple touch of one finger.

Lastly, but definitely not least is the Zendone App. Zendone is a personal productivity tool based on the Getting Things Done methodogy. This app is for the Evernote user that either a) is the scatterbrain that needs a quick and easy way to organize their schedule, or b) the anal-retentive user that appreciates order in his/her life.

So there you have it, the 6 finalists of the first ever Evernote App Competition. Each application appeals to different audiences but they do have one thing in common; they need YOUR help to win the competition, with community voting open to the public until August 17. You can vote once per day, and the winner will be announced on August 18th, 2011 at the Evernote Trunk Conference in San Francisco, California. So what are you waiting for? Vote here: http://www.evernote.com/about/etc/vote.php