Evernote's struggle: A look at other popular apps that've been through rough weather

Evernote, one of the most popular note-taking app in the world, which is compatible with a number of operating system platforms might be seeing a downfall. Despite having 150 million registered users this year, the company has been slow in developing the revenue side of its business, and also attracting a larger audience by their side too. According to a report, several former employees believe that the lack of focus in its core note-taking product might have hampered the company’s growth. It is to be believed that Evernote spent more time releasing a bunch of new products and features which only grab news but did not impress nor deliver ‘quality’. What went wrong? Another problem which is causing monetary loss is the fact that most users did not convert to the paid service, taking a toll on Evernote’s overall business. Initially, the company grew quick users by following the “freemium” model in the hope of eventually turning them into paid company; but sadly, this plan did not materialise.  On the other hand, Foursquare might have slowed down in terms of growth too. An earlier  report points out that Foursquare has actually been on something of a slight downward trend, judging by the figures from App Annie. Foursquare popularised the act of checking into a venue to share location with friends. In doing this, the company was labelled as nothing but a ‘check-in service’. It seems like most of its user base is now on Facebook, which offers users the same feature and with most friends on Facebook anyway. Remember Foursquare? Not many people seem to be using Foursquare today. What went wrong? Foursquare went against their main USP and started a radical overhaul in July 2014, launching a brand new app for checking-in and changing the existing Foursquare app into a restaurant review and directory listing. This move proved that the company blindly made a gamble as it had no idea how to expand, or what to do next. Users who wished to check-in to Foursquare were redirected to the Google Play or Apple store to download the brand new app called “Swarm” just for checking in. In addition, the people who did in fact download it, were faced with many bugs which eventually led to frustration and the deletion of the app altogether. It was almost as a closed chapter for users with Foursquare leading to its impending demise. And what about Dropbox? Well, this cannot be counted as a failure. But, if some day the company decides to get rid of the free-service and go paid-only, it might create a big problem.  An approximately small minority of users opt for the $10-a-month ‘Pro’ account with additional storage. Another problem is that the company hasn’t made any significant addition the service. Neither has there been anything new in terms of the service, by which it could attract a larger fan following. Conclusion What has been a similar pattern among the above three companies? Consistency and Change.  Change is a good thing, always. A start-up needs to constantly have new additions to its products or around it. Even some of the biggest companies like Facebook and Google tries to offer its fans something new each day. That’s what it does right. They focus on a single product and work around how they can strive it better. Upcoming start-ups can take this as an important tip and remember not make a similar mistake to ensure consistent growth – in terms of users, as well as revenue.