Evernote takes different path in China with a separate brand

In May 2012, US-based cloud storage service provider Evernote launched its Chinese version called Yinxiang Biji, or "Memory Notes," allowing note-taking and viewing across desktop computers, tablets and smartphones running on both Apple's iOS and Google's Android.mini storageKen Gullicksen, chief operating officer at Evernote, talked with Shanghai Daily about how the company collaborates with Chinese social media sites and navigates the landscape of the world's largest Internet user base.Before joining Evernote, Gullicksen spent over a decade as a general partner at private equity firm Morgenthaler Ventures, where he led the first Silicon Valley venture round in Evernote and served on Evernote's board.Q: Why launch a separate brand name in Chinese and how is your collaboration with local social networking sites going?A: We saw the need to communicate with Chinese users from a local perspective more effectively, so the branding also needed to be in Chinese. We want to integrate better with local services because the climate here is very distinct from what it is outside of the country.We have a number of exciting collaborators here, including Sina Weibo, news reading apps and Internet explorers by Tencent and Qihoo 360.Saving WeChat clippings and chatting history to Evernote also has particular impact for our local service because WeChat is ubiquitous here. In fact, it's one of the most popular functions among Chinese users, and that's been very significant for us.Q: You serve both individual end users and corporate users with Evernote Business. Can you tell us about the rigors of serving different classes of customers?A: It's both different and the same because the purpose of Evernote is to become your second brain, to make all sorts of information available across all different platforms, and to help you complete daily tasks.In China, we have the management team of the famous Dadong Roast Duck Restaurant, a number of non-governmental organizations and colleges as our corporate clients. We've found that more than 70 percent of our individual users depend on Evernote as a part of their daily work.Business software tends to be difficult to use and usually doesn't have very nice layouts, so we want to bring a better experience into the work environment.Unlike previously, business software, which tends to first solve the needs of a big organiza儲存ion or IT managers, we want to stay focused first and foremost on individual end users. Currently, over 10,000 companies are using it now all over the world.Q: What's your current user base in China and how many are paying members?A: In China, we have around 8 million users, and many of them are using Evernote on several devices across different platforms. We are very happy with that.We want end users to pay us directly because our service principle is: Your data is yours. It's protected and you can take it with you anytime. We would be violating those rules if we utilized user data to sell advertising.China is already the second-largest market in terms of users, behind that of the United States, and eventually it may become the largest.Unlike other Internet services running on the "freemium" model, we allow non-paying users to have all the functions in the full version. Then we get revenue when you really fall in love with the product and pay the company directly.It could take quite a long time before people start paying. On a global basis, among users who first started when we launched in 2008, about one-fourth of them are paying members. It's a long and slow process, and we're committed to build user trust and user love for the product. It's still quite early here.The core customer group we want to serve is anybody who's using information as their main job task, which is the fastest growing demographic in the world. In China, it's growing even faster. Our estimate is that there are about a billion people worldwide who are this kind of "knowledge worker" and, in China, there are at least 100 million by rough accounts.Q: How do you collaborate with Chinese Internet giants like Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba and at the same time retain your unique brand?A: We look at these Internet giants as partners instead of rivals, and we collaborate with them at various levels, including instant messaging services, Internet browsers and application download channels. In the end, it's all about enhancing the user experience.On a global basis, there is some overlapping of functions with big companies like Google, Amazon and Apple, but we don't want that to be a zero-sum game and steal any market share away from them.By connecting our service with their platforms seamlessly, we aim to promote product value for both sides, which is mutually beneficial.迷你倉