161–170 of 221 posts
Should they be mortally afraid? No, probably not. Dropbox has a lot going for them, and one of the biggest things they've got going for them is that they are not google.
They can specialize, they can do one thing and do it well and they just had a huge company validate their market for them.
Look at omniture vs analytics of how that can play out.
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Dropbox can take the approach of not worrying if they want. Standing on years of head start perhaps. However: File sync strikes me as a lot closer to email than . Additionally, it seems logical to build/ship GDrive right into android. I say again: I'd worry like hell.
Agreed. File sharing is the type of thing where you can't just rely on first-mover-advantage. Google has the ability and infrastructure to offer more space for free on more devices and platforms.
You're second point sounds right. But to me, Dropbox has always been about the UX and convenience rather than the cost / space.
I think it will be interesting to see what Google launches.
[1] See this slide for CEO Drew Houston's humorous take on this: http://www.slideshare.net/gueste94e4c/dropbox-startup-lesson...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dropbox can take the approach of not worrying if they want. Standing on years of head start perhaps. However: File sync strikes me as a lot closer to email than . Additionally, it seems logical to build/ship GDrive right into android. I say again: I'd worry like hell.
Agreed. File sharing is the type of thing where you can't just rely on first-mover-advantage. Google has the ability and infrastructure to offer more space for free on more devices and platforms.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could probably add Picasa, Reader, Virtual Voicemail / Google Voice, Calendar, Video Chat, Instant Messaging as well.
Yeah, though they haven't really dominated any of those sections - I considered a few, actually. Picasa for instance is decent and moderately used, but Flickr and especially Facebook are way way larger in almost every respect. Their calendar is the best online calendar I've found, but nobody I know uses it except Google-aware geeks and the ones I've taught (they love it now, didn't know it existed before). And online…
As a rule of thumb, I try to rely on Google as little as possible for important services. I don't dislike Google, but their lack of customer service makes it risky to rely too heavily on their services. I use Dropbox for syncing and backup, and since I backup files that are important to me, that rules out Google Drive.
This. Unless Google suddenly become a lot more customer service focussed, I really have no intention of using their service to back up all my stuff.
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Convenient as the other only logical acquirer is also in Seattle.
Do you see MS putting Amazon in their critical path? I easily picture Ballmer saying NFW, but would love to hear why MS would hand such power over to Amazon.
When I was in YC (same batch as Dropbox) this was a constant question. "What happens to Dropbox if Gdrive launches?" I don't actually remember what Drew and Arash thought, but a lot of people speculated on it. It was probably a real threat to them 4.5 years ago. I can't imagine it is now. Dropbox has a large, happy fanbase that's going to keep using it and keep spreading. They're going to keep growing. They've got a…
FWIW, one of the reasons I like having a non Google service to hold some important files is in case I hit the Google black swan and get locked out of my gmail account. (I also backup my email regularly.) While integration would probably be convenient, I need to be able to keep working if I do get locked out.
When I was in YC (same batch as Dropbox) this was a constant question. "What happens to Dropbox if Gdrive launches?" I don't actually remember what Drew and Arash thought, but a lot of people speculated on it. It was probably a real threat to them 4.5 years ago. I can't imagine it is now. Dropbox has a large, happy fanbase that's going to keep using it and keep spreading. They're going to keep growing. They've got a…
> If I were Dropbox I'd simply view this as market validation And if I were Dropbox, I'd worry like hell. Google isn't depending on making GDrive profitable from fees, so they can literally give it away.
Alright, now. Pay attention to the existence of paid option. The fact that GDrive has a paid option indicates that they are aiming directly at Dropbox. If they were offering a completely free option, it would implicitly make GDrive fall into another category thus increasing its distance from Dropbox. I would also guess that Google can easily make GDrive completely free, these $5 / 20Gb is not likely to be breaking or…