penultimatelogoEvernote, the notetaking and archiving service, has acquired notebook app Penultimate for an undisclosed sum, reports The Next Web. Evernote has been on something of a buying spree -- in August of last year, Evernote bought image editing and sharing app Skitch.

More that simply bringing the app into the Evernote stable, the deal will see Penultimate (blessed with the accolade of 4th most downloaded iPad app of all time back in March this year) developed for a wider range of platforms and devices. Evernote also plans to use the acquisition of the app, developed by San Francisco-based Cocoa Box, to bring improved handwriting recognition to the Evernote service itself.

Evernote can already recognize handwritten text in scanned documents, while the company also licenses this technology to third parties via its Ritescript division. Today’s acquisition opens up the possibility of allowing you to write with your finger or a stylus directly into Evernote apps in the future. Penultimate already supports the saving of notes into your Evernote account.


Penultimate will continue on as a standalone app, with creator Ben Zotto continuing work on it at Evernote. Penultimate is the fourth most downloaded iPad app ever according to Apple. Evernote recently raised a $70 million funding round and is nearing 30 million users.

Penultimate for iPad is available on the App Store for $0.99. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

Patriks7 Avatar
172 months ago
Potentially dream come true.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nuckinfutz Avatar
172 months ago
SOLID

I use both. Better integration wins the internets.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iSee Avatar
172 months ago
...The iPad does not have a pen...

No. The iPad does not come with a pen.
That's not the same thing.

Personally, I bought two three-packs of styluses off Amazon for < $1/pen. Somewhat surprisingly, they work great. I use the pens for writing and tend to use my finger or pen for diagramming and drawing, depending on exactly what I'm doing.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
slu Avatar
172 months ago
I want to like Evernote, but I just think it needs improved usability. For me, it just takes too long and too many "clicks" to edit an existing note. I find I barely use it.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
charlieegan3 Avatar
172 months ago
although 'penultimate' is the perfect name for this app it does mean: 'all but the best'

I find I get very little out of these 'productivity tools'.
Score: 0 Votes (Like | Disagree)
balconycollapse Avatar
172 months ago
I sincerely tried to use Penultimate as my notebook for school on multiple occasions with multiple styluses. It just doesn't do the trick for me -- I'm doing lots of math equations and formulas. I want it to work and hope that a future version of the iPad will better support handwriting. Evernote is so-so. I gave up on it because the interface and syncing were kind of a pain. Honestly with Evernote you might as well just create an email address and send yourself anything you want to save because it's basically the same thing. I've ended up going with Workflowy for online organization and stuck to pen and paper for real notes. iPad is still fantastic for reading but the handwriting recognition just isn't there.
Score: 0 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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