Riddle me this: What exactly is a “note-taking app”?

It seems almost painfully obvious, I know — but it’s a question I’ve found myself struggling to answer as I’ve been exploring a new breed of information-storing services.

The services allow you to collect and organize thoughts, lists, and all sorts of other materials. They also, however, provide a powerful framework for mapping out complex projects, processing large amounts of data, and even writing documents. And they’re all designed to support some pretty sophisticated forms of collaboration.

So are they note-taking apps? Are they word processors — or maybe spreadsheet editors? Or are they task management tools, project management tools, or perhaps even just broad “collaboration utilities”?

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