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Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

dropbox.com

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Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#21

Post by skinnymuch »

jmathai wrote: post #12

I don't think the consumer space is something Dropbox is really interested in. I don't blame them and they probably have the numbers to back up their decision to drop photo galleries. I thought Carousel was going to be a big success[1] but it didn't hit the mark like I suspected. Even if it did I doubt it would generate any meaningful revenue for them. Google has figured out the consumer photo space with Google Photo…

Google is pushing out new features for Google Photos at an impressive rate through now as well. Hope that doesn't. If they didn't shut Carousel down before, they would probably be shutting it down by now with Google Photos, Apple Photos, Amazon, taking so much of the space up.

Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#22

Post by toomuchtodo »

skinnymuch wrote: post #21
jmathai wrote: post #12

I don't think the consumer space is something Dropbox is really interested in. I don't blame them and they probably have the numbers to back up their decision to drop photo galleries. I thought Carousel was going to be a big success[1] but it didn't hit the mark like I suspected. Even if it did I doubt it would generate any meaningful revenue for them. Google has figured out the consumer photo space with Google Photo…

Google is pushing out new features for Google Photos at an impressive rate through now as well. Hope that doesn't. If they didn't shut Carousel down before, they would probably be shutting it down by now with Google Photos, Apple Photos, Amazon, taking so much of the space up.

What happens when Google Photos shuts down?

Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#23

Post by Spooky23 »

Dropbox is a strange company. They must be doing backend maintenance or something, but they seem to take away more features and function than they add.

I honestly don't get what they do as a company, and I love the product and have paid for years. They hold back basic features like search and now take away stuff like albums that freeware packages can do?

Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#24

Post by Brendinooo »

Plug for SmugMug here: $40/year for, as far as I understand it, unlimited photo and video storage. Great controls over sharing, easy to order prints, and the iOS app is getting better all the time. Plus, you are not the product. They just want to do photo storage well, and that's it.

Back when I was deciding on a service, I was down to Carousel and SmugMug. I liked the idea of paying Dropbox for space that would go beyond photos and I think Carousel was good at syncing photos from the iPhone, but I went with SmugMug for the reasons above and have not regretted it one bit.

Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#25

Post by ChuckMcM »

smrtinsert wrote: post #7

Trust the cloud they said, it's always there they said. In all seriousness, the need for local, speedy, transparent and ubiquitous data redundancy is still there and if anything growing. Consumers want a 'refrigerator' of data - be it documents, photos, etc. Buy, set and forget. Huge opportunity there.

I tend to agree with this. Local broadband access is good enough, and IPV6 spread widely enough, that you could make a network accessible data fridge that lived in your house work. Using the cloud for offline encrypted backups only.

To work though it will require some exceptional simplification and product engineering.

Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#26

Post by prawn »

the_common_man wrote: post #16
chad_c wrote: post #4

Dropbox lost me when they closed Carousel. I don't understand why this space is so hard.

Nobody wants to pay.

I think you have to prove yourself indispensable and really charm people with functionality that is surprisingly effective. I pay for iCloud (former) and Spotify (latter - their discovery constantly astounds me).

I need something like Dropbox and begrudgingly use the free tier interacting with my clients who use it, but I find myself trying to avoid paying for it or locking in on it. Something about it is just off-putting.

Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#27

Post by jmathai »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #22
skinnymuch wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is pushing out new features for Google Photos at an impressive rate through now as well. Hope that doesn't. If they didn't shut Carousel down before, they would probably be shutting it down by now with Google Photos, Apple Photos, Amazon, taking so much of the space up.

What happens when Google Photos shuts down?

I'm glad you asked :).

Here's how I get all the benefits of Google Photos without relying on the service to be around in order to have my photos.

https://medium.com/@jmathai/introducing-elodie-your-personal...

Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#28

Post by hari_seldon_ »

jmathai wrote: post #12

I don't think the consumer space is something Dropbox is really interested in. I don't blame them and they probably have the numbers to back up their decision to drop photo galleries. I thought Carousel was going to be a big success[1] but it didn't hit the mark like I suspected. Even if it did I doubt it would generate any meaningful revenue for them. Google has figured out the consumer photo space with Google Photo…

They are in a tough bind because they used to be interested in that space and were slow to move on enterprise, allowing Box and others to have more momentum in that space. Now with Google and others dominating the photo storage consumer space, where should Dropbox focus its efforts?

Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#29

Post by skinnymuch »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #22
skinnymuch wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is pushing out new features for Google Photos at an impressive rate through now as well. Hope that doesn't. If they didn't shut Carousel down before, they would probably be shutting it down by now with Google Photos, Apple Photos, Amazon, taking so much of the space up.

What happens when Google Photos shuts down?

Yes...Photos have always been so difficult to organize well, I'm fine with holding my breath. Overall, my photos in general are pretty organized luckily.

Re: Dropbox Drops Photo Galleries

#30

Post by joshmn »

smrtinsert wrote: post #7

Trust the cloud they said, it's always there they said. In all seriousness, the need for local, speedy, transparent and ubiquitous data redundancy is still there and if anything growing. Consumers want a 'refrigerator' of data - be it documents, photos, etc. Buy, set and forget. Huge opportunity there.

> Consumers want a 'refrigerator' of data - be it documents, photos, etc. Buy, set and forget.

Synology comes close. Their current marketing strategy doesn't seem to be focused towards the 98% of consumers though.

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