Box Takes On Evernote and Google Docs With Box Notes
Cloud storage provider Box has figured out a few things. Early on, it targeted businesses with its user-friendly service as well as consumers, and even as it continues to develop business-facing features, it hasn’t lost the appeal that makes the average consumer sign up for an account, as well.
Box has also figured out that branching out from merely storing data in the cloud is a good idea. The company announced a new note-taking feature called Box Notes that lets users jot down ideas, meeting notes, action plans, or what have you and collaborate with other users (ostensibly, coworkers) in real time. Others can collaborate on notes, and their smiling faces appear as “Note Heads”, or little thumbnails. The notes, of course, are saved to users’ Box accounts in the cloud.
Does this sounds pretty much exactly like Google Docs? Yes indeed. It’s also being pitched as something akin to EverNote--that is, more of a handy note-taker than a full-on word processor--and in general, in bears a strong resemblance to all manner of cloud-backed note-taking, online collaborating, and word processing tools. The premiere feature of Box Notes, though, is the fact that the documents are stored in and accessed from Box, and collaborators can already be in a given user’s Box ecosystem.
It’s a focused, simple product. What’s more, those notes will enjoy the same level of security as all data stored on Box; if a note is stashed in a folder to which collaborators have access, only those collaborators can view and work on them, plain and simple.
Box is running a private beta for Box Notes for the time being, and you can ask to join here. A mobile version is coming at some point, as well.
Box has also figured out that branching out from merely storing data in the cloud is a good idea. The company announced a new note-taking feature called Box Notes that lets users jot down ideas, meeting notes, action plans, or what have you and collaborate with other users (ostensibly, coworkers) in real time. Others can collaborate on notes, and their smiling faces appear as “Note Heads”, or little thumbnails. The notes, of course, are saved to users’ Box accounts in the cloud.
Does this sounds pretty much exactly like Google Docs? Yes indeed. It’s also being pitched as something akin to EverNote--that is, more of a handy note-taker than a full-on word processor--and in general, in bears a strong resemblance to all manner of cloud-backed note-taking, online collaborating, and word processing tools. The premiere feature of Box Notes, though, is the fact that the documents are stored in and accessed from Box, and collaborators can already be in a given user’s Box ecosystem.
It’s a focused, simple product. What’s more, those notes will enjoy the same level of security as all data stored on Box; if a note is stashed in a folder to which collaborators have access, only those collaborators can view and work on them, plain and simple.
Box is running a private beta for Box Notes for the time being, and you can ask to join here. A mobile version is coming at some point, as well.
