Evernote adds document search functionality to mark Deutsche Telekom partnership

Evernote has struck a strategic partnership with Deutsche Telekom, which will see Telekom customers get one-year Evernote Premium subscriptions. And, to mark the occasion, Evernote has added a new Premium feature: document search.

Evernote Premium’s existing features include higher upload limits, offline note availability, added note-sharing options and better note search. But now Premium subscribers are also able search documents, spreadsheets and presentations that are attached to notes, as long as the documents in question were created in Microsoft Office, Apple iWork or OpenOffice.

The initial result of the Telekom tie-in is not in itself unique by any means – many Orange and Taiwan Mobile customers, for example, also got a year’s free Premium access last year. However, the use of the term “strategic partnership”, along with the companies’ insistence that this Premium deal is only “the first part” of that arrangement, suggest more is yet to come.

For Evernote, such deals mean more reach and entrenchment, which comes at an opportune time given Google’s entry into the same market with Keep and the rise of other rivals such as Wunderlist.

For Deutsche Telekom, the partnership is a continuation of the telco’s strategy of bundling the premium versions of popular web brands as a way of making its own services more attractive: it does much the same with Spotify for one of its youth-oriented tariffs.

“At Deutsche Telekom, we count on partnerships to pave the way for innovations,” Telekom business development SVP Heikki Makijarvi said in a statement. “Our goal is to offer highly innovative and unique services with the easiest access possible. The cooperation with Evernote is an excellent example of two companies combining their strengths for the benefit of our customers.”