If you’re one of the millions of Evernote users around the globe, you’ve likely enjoyed the app for the same reason most people do: you can save practically everything. Up until now, all that data has been stored within Evernote’s own proprietary data methods. But apparently, that’s about to change.
Evernote recently made waves after raising their prices—now the software company is making a shift that is raising eyebrows in another direction: migrating all their data over to, you guessed it, Google. Via TechCrunch:
Evernote — the popular note taking and productivity startup with 200 million users — has built its reputation around an app that lets you record and track all your life’s details hold them there, for life. Today, the company is shifting gears on the question of how it will keep hold of and track that information: Evernote is migrating all of its data, including some 5 billion notes, to Google’s Cloud Platform. As part of that, it will also start to use Google’s machine learning APIs to help access and use that data in different ways.
As a result, Evernote will be shutting down its previous storage architecture that was based around a private cloud infrastructure, along with some of its own tech. Evernote’s new CTO Anirban Kundu told me the first two areas that will be replaced by Google’s machine learning APIs are its voice recognition for speech-to-text translations; and natural language processing, used to help search for contextual content.
According to the source, Evernote is hardly the first to utilize Google’s cloud architecture for data—and/or their “learning APIs.” Some others include Snapchat, Spotify, Viant, Ocado, Wix, and Disney.
Even so, some could argue it’s a tad unnerving to transfer right around five billion notes to a company who’s very existence has thrived on collecting data on its users.
Evernote’s CTO Anirban Kundu clarified that the company has “no intention” of allowing Google to use your data for advertising purposes.
“Google doesn’t get access to the users’ content to make any assumptions or provide any ads,” Kundu said. “Google Cloud Platform is a separate business unit and not interested in monetizing that content. We have no intention of using ads. Our user data is private to them and we protect that in the highest possible way.”
According to Evernote, the migration to Google will begin in early October, with “a complete migration by the end of 2016.”
