Evernote opens dedicated app store for Chinese Yinxiang Biji service, 7 months after launch

After opening up the API for its separate Yinxiang Biji service in China in August, Evernote has established a separate Trunk app store for the service.

Located at trunk.yinxiang.com, the new Trunk already has apps from several prominent Chinese partners, including browsers from QQ and UC, as well as apps from US developers like IFTTT and Pocket. It also includes Yinxiang Biji versions of Evernote’s Skitch, Hello and Food apps.

Yiniang Biji was announced in May as a service that will branch off of the international version of Evernote with its own team and data centers in China. Response to the service was “off the charts” with a major spike in user registrations from the country. When we visited the Yinxiang Biji offices in September, Evernote’s China GM Amy Gu told us that user growth continued to ramp “better than expected”.

Evernote’s solution to build out a separate service for the Chinese market  was a wise move. In order to operate within China, it needs to cooperate with local regulations, but doing so could scare users off because of privacy concerns. By keeping the international Evernote and Yinxiang Biji as disparate services, users worried about government monitoring can opt to use the international version, while those who need the benefits of a localized product can opt to use the domestic service.

Even before launching Yinxiang Biji, Evernote already had a million users in China. For a company that says it’s taking its time to grow, it’s certainly picking up speed nicely.