Evernote’s app first: iPhone Smart Cover as app platform

Chalk up a win for the folks at Evernote, who have introduced the first iPad 2 app to transform Apple's Smart Cover from a fashion accessory to a necessary component of the application.

With Evernote Peek, a free application now available in the App Store, the iPad 2 and Smart Cover are transformed into the world's most expensive — though arguably coolest — deck of flashcards. Lift up the Smart Cover's first accordion fold to see the question, then lift up the second fold to see the answer. Drop the cover down, lift the first fold again and you're on to the next question.

Offering a little added value to the deck, there's also a multimedia component. For example, in a YouTube video showing off the app, the answer to "Caracas is the capital of what country?" (Venezuela, but you knew that) is accompanied by the Venezuelan flag. The answer to "Who was the fifth president of the United States?" shows off not only James Monroe but his stoic mug.

"The iPad 2 and iPad Smart Cover inspired us to create a completely new way of interacting with an app," Evernote CEO Phil Libin said in announcing the app. “The ability to 'peek' under the iPad Smart Cover allows users to learn, or view their existing Evernote content, in a delightful new way.”

The Evernote elephant logo feels suddenly more apropos.

Whether cover sneak peaks become a standard app convention, of course, remains to be seen.