The NY Times had an article this weekend on giving software away in order to make money down the road.  In the story they featured Evernote, a data saving service that I had signed up for last year. After reading the article,  I checked out Evernote.com and found that they had released several new features and a lot of useful walk-through videos since I last visited.

Evernote’s goal in life is to help you “Remember Everything”. If you are not using it, check it out now.  I guarantee you are going to find it very impressive.

But the truth is, I hardly ever use it.

The strange part is that I have been looking for this type of service for years.  The ability to store and recall anything, anywhere, at anytime?  I would pay for such a service (which makes Evernote even cooler since it is free).

So, why am I not hooked yet?  Is there some key features missing?  Some hook not quite there yet.  Looking at the product feature list:

• Easy to use – check
• Search – check
• Web access – check
• Web tools for quick add – check
• Desktop clients (pc and mac) – check
• Mobile apps (iphone, BlackBerry, Pre, Windows Mobile) – check
• Flash drive install (For those that can’t install apps at work (how cool is that!))  – check

So, what is the problem here?  I am hard pressed to think of anything that Evernote is missing so why am I not using it?

It has to be me.

Well, its not just me.  According the NY Times, ” About 75 percent of the customers walk away within the first four months.”  That means that only 25% of users find a way to make Evernote’s features part of their everyday process.

I think that this is a great illustration of the challenges of  new technology adoption.  Even with an amazing product and an unbeatable price, changing behavior is hard.