Evernote partners StarHub in Southeast Asia expansion
Evernote has ramped up its expansion plans in the Asia-Pacific with a partnership with Singapore telco StarHub as a first step to break into Southeast Asia.
Through the tie-up, a complimentary one-year Evernote Premium subscription, valued at S$58 (US$45), will be given to all new or recontracting StarHub mobile customers, according to a press release on Thursday. The promotion will end August 21, 2014.
Customers will enjoy a partner-exclusive feature, video notes, which allows them to shoot and upload videos quickly and easily on the Evernote app.
"By giving subscribers the ability to ubiquitously capture, access, and discover everything that's important to them, this partnership will chart the course for evolving mobile experiences for a new generation of consumers in Singapore," said Ken Gullicksen, chief operating officer at Evernote, in the statement.
Gullicksen pointed out Southeast Asia's explosive online population growth meant it was a highly important market for Evernote.
According to Evernote, it currently has 66 million users worldwide, with over two million in Southeast Asia. Its regional headquarters Singapore is one of its most successful markets in terms of concentration of users with 400,000 users.
StarHub chosen ahead of SingTel
"StarHub is one of most innovative telcos in the region, and we are thrilled to enter this partnership with them," noted Gullicksen.
However, ahead of the announcement, there was speculation Evernote would have picked market leader SingTel, which has the advantage of a wide network of associates across the region such as in the Philippines, India, Thailand and Indonesia. In Singapore, SingTel also commands a larger customer base of over 3.847 million, ahead of StarHub's 2.249 million.
The deal mirrors the one last week which Evernote inked with Telefonica, a major carrier in Latin America, which will push its service in Brazil. The note-taking service has also tied up with carriers such as Deutsche Telekom in Germany, Orange in France, NTT Docomo in Japan, and Taiwan Mobile.