Dropbox Indeed Balked at Major Acquisition Offer from Apple

[kas23]

This FORBES article that's coming out is so obvious: these guys see are probably already seeing people jump ship. People probably have mostly music in their dropbox accounts. Once Apple releases their ITUNES MATCH for $25 annual product, people will be dropping off like rats on sinking ship.

I know no one who actually uses their Dropbox in that manner. It would seem like a very silly way to use up all your space when most people think music is important enough to take up the majority of their local storage. I don't see the appeal of all these music locker services when local storage is increasing every year.

 

[jaimeastin]

For apple users, icloud is cool enough... for the world, iclouds does nothing for them...


I acutally have not even enabled icloud on my apple products yet... I use wifi sync on my ipad. Personally, I have my own personal cloud solution and strategy for keeping me sync'd up with all of my computers and devices.

For this reason, I rarely use dropbox. But when it do, it is to interact with the world. I dont have to open an SFTP port and give access to my network nor really open another hosting account. I just send a file to dropbox and send my clients or consultants and email granting them access to the file. It is easy for people to get the file without being limited to what computer or device affiliation.

So, with all this being said. If you dont know dropbox, you will probably not know it. Flame me for it, but icloud is more of a feature than dropbox is. icloud is a feature and benefit fo the the apple environment. Dropbox is a tool for the world. More so, business world. icloud is a self serving service. Dropbox is more a group serving service. I think microsoft put it well when they said that apple and ios is for one was they are for networking/group. Though this is just about true, I want them to fully back this up, lol.

Bottom line: I will use both services sparingly for tasks that fit them well. But I am not on this Kool-Aid. iCloud is a Apple feature. It will best serve those millions of people who purchase/purchased ios devices and NEVER sync'd/backuped their devices and for those who begged for a file managment system for ios devices. iCloud is just a vessel to try to keep a users information sync'd anc accessable with little involvment from the individual. It is articles like these that will keep the sheep confused about DropBox and iCloud... iCloud and Dropbox serve two different markets. Dropbox just gave ios devices a crutch for its true limitations. Now that ios5 and icloud is here, dropbox probably not be used as much on ios, but it will still be used in all other places THAT REALLY MADE IT GAIN ITS POPLULARITY. There is a world much larger than ios... I know I live in it. Take care all.

 

[Evan_11]

Call me old fashioned but I don't really get iCloud. I know it's supposed to be invisible and all that but Dropbox makes so much more sense to me. I like being able to see and directly manipulate my stuff.
iCloud is a little like believing in God: You have to assume that its up there, somewhere, taking care of you, even if you can't see, touch, or control it.

 

[*LTD*]

Christ what a bunch of morons. Even if, by some miracle, they do become the "next big thing", why risk it? It's like gamblers who don't quit when they're ahead.

They would need massive infrastructure and something truly revolutionary to be the "next big thing."

It's a good syncing and storage service at the moment, but that's all it is. A feature (that should be integrated into a platform ecosystem) masquerading as a product. And the big players are already developing similar services.

Jobs walked away and Apple stopped courting Dropbox because they probably knew that it wasn't worth offering them any more (because the writing was already on the wall.) Speculation, but it isn't like we're hearing about ongoing talks.

 

[ViperDesign]

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.

Dropbox is as strong as ever. Exit strategy, why cause they didn't bow down to apple?

Let's be honest, iCloud has been a complete dud so far.

 

[arcite]

Who are the big players today?

There is Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook.

Everyone else is reduced to scrambling for the scraps.

 

[applesith]

ok - well let me know when you can upload docs, download docs and share docs with that great integrated iOS feature known as iCloud.

Incidently - it's about as "tricky" to load the phone app vs text app vs email app as it is to open up dropbox or other 3rd party solutions.

I agree integration is always great. I just think that you're looking at a distant future when/if Apple allows what dropbox provides.

Not to mention - it won't be cross platform. Not truly.

I'm not saying iCloud or Drop Box is better. I'm saying that it's something that will soon be a standard built-in feature of all OSs.I can see something such as file sharing becoming standardized such as email, where there are different providers, but you can use any OS to easily access and integrate it into the OS and its other apps.

 

[logandzwon]

They should have taken the money.... DB's short term future is good, long term is dead.

 

[Rend It]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Not sure why, but a lot of government lab and business IT departments are forbidding Dropbox use. We were all instructed to remove every aspect of it from our work computers.

I assume it's related to Dropbox's recent security flub:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/228036/researcher_dropbox_misrepresents_security_features.html

 

[Piggie]

bad move by dropbox,

iCloud is now competition and will beat it

why should you be interested in dropbox after iCloud release?

Well seeing as there a many many many MANY more PC's in the world that Mac's and probably always will be.
And there are more Android phones than iPhone being sold.
Plus all the other formats out there, which can all use DropBox (as well as Apple users)
Why on earth would you think iCloud will beat dropbox?

That would be like me opening up a bar which played one type of music and server one type of food and drink and thinking all the other bars which served a full variety of food, drink and music will all shut down now I'm here.

That's just bizarre to think that.

 

[*LTD*]

"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."

This is gold. Small fry thought Jobs was either new or dumb. He really didn't know who he was dealing with, or the magnitude of the offer that was made to him.

He *did* however, get some press out of it. Look who said no to Steve Jobs! Wow! What balls!

But will any material rewards for this newfound fame be enough to keep his service running when the big fish release (inevitably) theirs?

 

[arcite]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Not sure why, but a lot of government lab and business IT departments are forbidding Dropbox use. We were all instructed to remove every aspect of it from our work computers.

I assume it's related to Dropbox's recent security flub:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscent..._dropbox_misrepresents_security_features.html

I doubt even iCloud would be approved for Gov use any time soon.

 

[ViperDesign]

Everyone acts like Dropbox is hurting for money. They are the leaders in the online cloud/storage world.

They are available on all platforms and mobile devices. They reach more people than iCloud does or ever will.

Some of you apple fanboys make me laugh. Open your eyes, not everything outside of apple is doomed to fail.

 

[arcite]

"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."

This is gold. Small fry thought Jobs was either new or dumb. He really didn't know who he was dealing with, or the magnitude of the offer that was made to him.

He *did* however, get some press out of it. Look who said no to Steve Jobs! Wow! Will it be enough to keep his service running when the big fish release (inevitably) release theirs?

Go look up the classic Audion story from ten years ago.

 

[samcraig]

Job's negotiation style gave you very nearly all the Apple services you enjoy today. He might have overplayed it with Dropbox, but big friggin deal. With the major players integrating cloud services and nothing stopping Apple from releasing a Dropbox-like service, Houston et al are in for a world of hurt.


Clock's ticking. Enjoy Dropbox while you can, and so will I. Before long it might well be redundant.


They're probably on it as we speak (and so is everyone else.)

I'm not saying iCloud or Drop Box is better. I'm saying that it's something that will soon be a standard built-in feature of all OSs.I can see something such as file sharing becoming standardized such as email, where there are different providers, but you can use any OS to easily access and integrate it into the OS and its other apps.

If you're "Apple" all the way - and when/if Apple develops iCloud to be similar to dropbox - you're right. It's redundant.

But the fact of the matter is - Apple and its iCloud will always be a walled garden and won't be installed/available on other platforms.

So as amazing as iCloud is. It can never be dropbox. And dropbox will never be iCloud.

 

[*LTD*]

Well seeing as there a many many many MANY more PC's in the world that Mac's and probably always will be.

You're forgetting iPads, iPhones, and any other iOS devices. These all make use of iCloud. You don't need a Mac to be pulled into Apple's ecosystem. iCloud is potentially for anyone and everyone who owns an Apple device.

 

[Rend It]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Not sure why, but a lot of government lab and business IT departments are forbidding Dropbox use. We were all instructed to remove every aspect of it from our work computers.

I assume it's related to Dropbox's recent security flub:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscent..._dropbox_misrepresents_security_features.html

I doubt even iCloud would be approved for Gov use any time soon.

That's what a lot of us thought, too. But so far the other services have escaped the wrath of IT. It wasn't, "You must stop using all cloud services." They specifically singled out Dropbox (so far).

 

[skyy915]

I think it was just out of courtesy for Apple to buy out Dropbox. And I'm not sure why people need to bash iCloud. Of course iCloud is not the exact equivalent of what Dropbox is because it was really created more for the average persons' use of cell phones and mobile devices. Contacts, Calendars, Music, and Photos, what the average person cares about in their phone, gets backed up.
But of course Apple is probably headed toward that route for a service equivalent to dropbox. And iCloud is probably the second step; after Apple's trial with .Mac and Mobile Me(iDisk).

 

[*LTD*]

If you're "Apple" all the way - and when/if Apple develops iCloud to be similar to dropbox - you're right. It's redundant.

But the fact of the matter is - Apple and its iCloud will always be a walled garden and won't be installed/available on other platforms.

So as amazing as iCloud is. It can never be dropbox. And dropbox will never be iCloud.

Seems the iOS platform is pretty . . . Massive. You don't need a Mac (or even a traditional computer) to make use of iCloud.

 

[eleven59]

I found iDisk to be very useful when I was on apple devices....

But when I'm on someone's pc, or on my droid phone, I'm glad that I can share dropbox with my phone, iPad, desktop, etc...

It's like a FAT system in the cloud...

Apple would've killed that

 

[mtbgtr]

Just so you know, you can do the same with Dropbox. I access my files through the web interface all the time on borrowed computers that don't have my dropbox installed.

As I said I use both and I dont disagree with you. I just like the way SugarSync implements it, better IMHO.

 

[samcraig]

I think it was just out of courtesy for Apple to buy out Dropbox. And I'm not sure why people need to bash iCloud. Of course iCloud is not the exact equivalent of what Dropbox is because it was really created more for the average persons' use of cell phones and mobile devices. Contacts, Calendars, Music, and Photos, what the average person cares about in their phone, gets backed up.
But of course Apple is probably headed toward that route for a service equivalent to dropbox. And iCloud is probably the second step; after Apple's trial with .Mac and Mobile Me(iDisk).

So you're suggesting Apple was going to buy Dropbox at 9 figures out of "courtesy" or in another words - a "favor" or just because? That's ridiculous.

Seems the iOS platform is pretty . . . Massive. You don't need a Mac (or even a traditional computer) to make use of iCloud.

Yes. I agree. But for those who aren't using such devices/platforms, there SHOULD be an alternative or alternatives.

 

[steadysignal]

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.

if they are still in business, i will purchase this "feature" until someone gets it right.

 

[miniConvert]

$800 million. There's no way Dropbox can be worth that much. Its founders must have a whole stack of belief in the technology and its long and viable future in order to have turned that down...

I'd have thought I'd have been wiser to sell out and move on to inventing something new. Exit opportunities like that don't come along... well, ever, for most of us.

 

[ecib]

As I said I use both and I dont disagree with you. I just like the way SugarSync implements it, better IMHO.

What does SS's web interface let you do "so much more of" that DB's does not? I'm curious, as I have not used SS.