Google Launches 'Keep' To Rival Evernote

I am a fan of both Evernote and also of many of Google's services. I use Evernote frequently to keep track of thousands of scraps of information, including a lot of genealogy notes as well as insurance documents, shopping lists, prescription drugs that have been prescribed for me, my auto insurance information, and much, much more. I love the convenience of being able to find and retrieve any note quickly and easily. You can see an index to my past articles about Evernote if you start at http://goo.gl/lw7D5.

Today, Google announced a new offering to be called "Google Keep." It is obviously a direct competitor to, and almost a copy of, Evernote. It works on devices running Android 4.0 or later, and there's also a web interface. However, there is no Apple iPhone or iPad version. I guess that is not surprising, as Google created the Android operating system, the biggest competitor to iPhones and iPads.

Google's description of the service claims:

"Every day we all see, hear or think of things we need to remember. Usually we grab a pad of sticky-notes, scribble a reminder and put it on the desk, the fridge or the relevant page of a magazine. Unfortunately, if you’re like me you probably often discover that the desk, fridge or magazine wasn’t such a clever place to leave the note after all...it’s rarely where you need it when you need it.

"To solve this problem we’ve created Google Keep. With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what’s important to you. Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand.

"If it’s more convenient to speak than to type that’s fine—Keep transcribes voice memos for you automatically. There’s super-fast search to find what you’re looking for and when you’re finished with a note you can archive or delete it."

Google Keep is available at https://drive.google.com/keep/. You can learn more on the Google Blog at http://officialandroid.blogspot.ca/2013/03/google-keep-save-whats-on-your-mind.html or watch the video below.

This looks like a great use of the technology and I suspect it will appeal to many people, especially with its integration with Google Drive (to be available soon but not today). However, I won't be using it because:

1. I already use Evernote and am very happy with it and see no need to change
2. Google Keep isn't available for iPhone and iPad
3. Given the recent Google announcements about the cancellations of Google Reader and iGoogle personalized home pages and Google News Archive, I have little confidence in Google's commitment to keeping the service available.