Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Dropbox Indeed Balked at Major Acquisition Offer from Apple

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,539
30,848



dropbox_wordmark.jpg



Last month, word surfaced that popular file storage and sharing service Dropbox may have declined an $800 million acquisition offer from Apple, instead deciding to remain independent and raise its own financing.

A new profile of Dropbox appearing as the cover story for a forthcoming issue of Forbes reveals that Apple did indeed pursue Dropbox, with Steve Jobs personally meeting with Dropbox founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi amid the possibility of a "nine-digit" deal.
"I mean, Steve friggin' Jobs," remembers Houston, now 28. "How do you even prepare for that?" When Houston whipped out his laptop for a demo, Jobs, in his signature jeans and black turtleneck, coolly waved him away: "I know what you do."
Click to expand...
As Jobs made his pitch for Dropbox, Houston cut things short, telling Jobs that Dropbox was not interested in being acquired.
Jobs smiled warmly as he told them he was going after their market. "He said we were a feature, not a product," says Houston. Courteously, Jobs spent the next half hour waxing on over tea about his return to Apple, and why not to trust investors, as the duo--or more accurately, Houston, who plays Penn to Ferdowsi's mute Teller--peppered him with questions.
Click to expand...
Jobs reportedly attempted to follow up with Dropbox after the initial meeting, suggesting a second meeting at Dropbox's headquarters. But when Houston said that he preferred to meet elsewhere, so as to not give Jobs personal insight into Dropbox's operations, Jobs went silent. Apple of course introduced iCloud, its own syncing solution, earlier this year and went live with the service just last week.

Article Link: Dropbox Indeed Balked at Major Acquisition Offer from Apple
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/18/dropbox-indeed-balked-at-major-acquisition-offer-from-apple/
vincenz

vincenz

macrumors 601
Oct 20, 2008
4,285
220
The thing is, I've always seen Dropbox as a feature, just couldn't put it into words before. iCloud is more of a product, that's for sure. Wonder where Dropbox is going to be years from now.
 
geerlingguy

geerlingguy

macrumors 6502a
Feb 11, 2003
562
6
St. Louis, USA
I don't know if acquisition would've been a good thing or a bad thing... but I do know that iCloud's ultimate success will mean ultimate failure for Dropbox.

Apple's vision is a 'fileless' solution, where you simply trust that all your data is 'there' somewhere. Dropbox is all about files on a filesystem. I personally like the idea of knowing where exactly my files are (and knowing that I have a copy on my local filesystem), so Dropbox is perfect for me (has been for a few years now).

However, I know many people who just type up a document and take pictures, and could care less how they're stored, whether they're backed up four times, and how to get to them—as long as they can.

I wonder, though, why Apple wanted to buy Dropbox... was it more of a goodwill gesture? iCloud seems to not really need Dropbox's particular functionality. Maybe the syncing skillset and talent.
 
Menel

Menel

Suspended
Aug 4, 2011
6,351
1,356
On one hand, he might not have had to work another day, and could have gone on to create other services.

They are another eShop... will they fly once venture capitalist funds begin to dry up? Will they reach mass profitability... I have my doubts.

On the other hand, Jobs abandoned iDisk and is essentially handing the market back to them. So much iCloud can't do that Dropbox does.
 
dagamer34

dagamer34

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2007
1,359
101
Houston, TX
geerlingguy said:
I don't know if acquisition would've been a good thing or a bad thing... but I do know that iCloud's ultimate success will mean ultimate failure for Dropbox.

Apple's vision is a 'fileless' solution, where you simply trust that all your data is 'there' somewhere. Dropbox is all about files on a filesystem. I personally like the idea of knowing where exactly my files are (and knowing that I have a copy on my local filesystem), so Dropbox is perfect for me (has been for a few years now).

However, I know many people who just type up a document and take pictures, and could care less how they're stored, whether they're backed up four times, and how to get to them—as long as they can.

I wonder, though, why Apple wanted to buy Dropbox... was it more of a goodwill gesture? iCloud seems to not really need Dropbox's particular functionality. Maybe the syncing skillset and talent.
Click to expand...

Doubtful. The real reason why Dropbox is super successful is that its platform agnostic: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Windows Phone, etc... Apple would have taken that company, sucked it up, discontinued all clients and probably just come out with the same version of iCloud today. Remember they rarely buy companies for their actual product but for their talent.

Don't forget that not everyone uses all Apple devices, and iCloud is still rather neutered on Windows compared to what it can do in OS X. It only has access to photo stream and nothing else; no app data.
 
S

spyderx

macrumors member
Mar 20, 2011
77
9
I have 2 words for these guys: "Exit Strategy"

Oh well, I wish them well. Given the push of both consumer facing and enterprise facing "cloud" solutions (in all categories, processing, platform, storage, software, etc) I hope they have several more tricks up their sleeves.
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
Gotta love Jobs' attempt, though. It's so measured and confident.

The acquisition will happen (by someone.) All in its own time . . . all in its own time.

Of course, Apple has between now and say, next June, to introduce a Dropbox-like service (that actually works like it should . . . iDisk, I'm looking at YOU) and kill the need for Dropbox altogether.

It's just that at this point, Drew Houston thinks he's Mark Zuckerberg. We'll see if he's right.
 
Stella

Stella

macrumors G3
Apr 21, 2003
8,838
6,341
Canada
DropBox will continue on regardless of iCloud. Why? With drop box you can load any type of file you want. iCloud is limited - applications have to explicity support iCloud.

There are more potential users for Dropbox than iCloud, so I don't see why iCloud determines Dropbox's future. iCloud is far less flexible.


geerlingguy said:
I don't know if acquisition would've been a
good thing or a bad thing... but I do know that iCloud's ultimate success will mean ultimate failure for Dropbox.

Apple's vision is a 'fileless' solution, where you simply trust that all your data is 'there' somewhere. Dropbox is all about files on a filesystem. I personally like the idea of knowing where exactly my files are (and knowing that I have a copy on my local filesystem), so Dropbox is perfect for me (has been for a few years now).

However, I know many people who just type up a document and take pictures, and could care less how they're stored, whether they're backed up four times, and how to get to them—as long as they can.

I wonder, though, why Apple wanted to buy Dropbox... was it more of a goodwill gesture? iCloud seems to not really need Dropbox's particular functionality. Maybe the syncing skillset and talent.
Click to expand...
 
A

addicted44

macrumors 6502a
Jun 6, 2005
533
168
geerlingguy said:
I don't know if acquisition would've been a good thing or a bad thing... but I do know that iCloud's ultimate success will mean ultimate failure for Dropbox.

Apple's vision is a 'fileless' solution, where you simply trust that all your data is 'there' somewhere. Dropbox is all about files on a filesystem. I personally like the idea of knowing where exactly my files are (and knowing that I have a copy on my local filesystem), so Dropbox is perfect for me (has been for a few years now).

However, I know many people who just type up a document and take pictures, and could care less how they're stored, whether they're backed up four times, and how to get to them—as long as they can.

I wonder, though, why Apple wanted to buy Dropbox... was it more of a goodwill gesture? iCloud seems to not really need Dropbox's particular functionality. Maybe the syncing skillset and talent.
Click to expand...

Apple would buy dropbox for the talent. You have a bunch of people who have worked hard at the solution, and with that work comes a lot of experience, something which is hard to find even amongst the brightest of people.

I am not sure what is up with some of the startups these days. First Groupon turned down a $6Bn offer from Google, and now DropBox turns this offer down? Although, maybe they figured that since Apple is getting iCloud, a competitor might find them even more valuable.
 
Small White Car

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
I think iCloud and Dropbox will both survive.

There will always be a market for the 'non-Apple' version of something. Because of what Apple is they will never build something that does everything. This means there will be features to offer to the folks who want something different than what iCloud offers.

I really like Dropbox so I'm glad it's going to be them. A world with Apple and Dropbox is a good one. I'd rather have this than Apple + someone else I've never heard of.
 
M

Moof1904

macrumors 65816
May 20, 2004
1,053
87
I find iDisk very useful to me. I'll likely be getting a Dropbox account very soon and moving my iDisk files to Dropbox.
 
hobo.hopkins

hobo.hopkins

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2008
569
6
I just can't believe that this was a smart move. I would have seriously considered his proposal.
 
1

1083296

Suspended
Jun 11, 2010
61
4
bad move by dropbox,

iCloud is now competition and will beat it

why should you be interested in dropbox after iCloud release?
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
addicted44 said:
I am not sure what is up with some of the startups these days. First Groupon turned down a $6Bn offer from Google, and now DropBox turns this offer down?
Click to expand...

They think they're the next Facebook. Or Apple.

They'll find out soon enough that both acts (and opportunities) are difficult to follow.
 
gugy

gugy

macrumors 68040
Jan 31, 2005
3,891
5,309
La Jolla, CA
Well he might regret this decision now or down the road. If iCloud becomes really successful then the need for Dropbox will diminish as their value.
Well there is always Microsoft to offer them some change....
 
B

benpatient

macrumors 68000
Nov 4, 2003
1,870
0
iCloud is so mac-focused and mac-limited in a way that dropbox has never been, that I just don't see how iCloud can realistically "kill" dropbox.

I use dropbox every day. I take it for granted. When I sit down at someone else's computer, i notice that my dropbox accounts aren't there pretty much right away.

I've got drop box on my macs, my android phones, and my pc.

Apple's solution wants me to buy an iphone and remove all options and choice from my world completely.

But what is the icloud analog to having a customer send you production files via a shared dropbox folder, which then syncs to your phone and your laptop and your work computer automatically? There isn't one. dropbox does this intelligently and seamlessly and QUICKLY. Apple is too worried about keeping everyone in their universe, and most people aren't in their universe to begin with, so the market for dropbox is bigger just from the get-go.
 
S

samcraig

macrumors P6
Jun 22, 2009
16,779
41,982
USA
I think they made the right decision. And I'd argue that Jobs was pretty arrogant to suggest that Dropbox is a feature - not a product. iCloud, if anything, is just a feature - and one limited to the Apple ecosystem.

While iCloud might be a great solution for some - Dropbox offers something else and for a variety of audiences. And based on many comments on this forum - iCloud isn't even living up to its hype. Again - different strokes for different folks.
 
M

Mr. Pezman

macrumors member
Aug 19, 2011
48
0
I think another tablet producer will make them an offer they can't refuse, all in a failing attempt to play catch-up with Apple.
 
840quadra

840quadra

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 1, 2005
9,256
5,968
Twin Cities Minnesota
With Amazon, google, Microsoft, and Apple coming out with their own cloud based solutions for their given products, I don't see Drop Box having much of a future. Perhaps Jobs was a bit blunt calling them only a feature (if he actually said that), but I totally agree with this.
 
N

nexsta

macrumors 6502
Jul 21, 2007
301
0
Thank god Dropbox refused to get bought by Apple, the same thing would happen to Dropbox what happened to Siri, they would close it and probably use it as a next iPhone feature only.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom