Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users • Hacker News Board

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#31

Post by john2x » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 2:36 PM UTC

sandieman wrote: post #9

Is iCloud going to be a threat for dropbox?

I think iCloud could actually help Dropbox.

Say an iPhone user (who only has a PC) says "Wow, iCloud seems really neat. I wish it worked with my PC though. "

Then his friend says to him "You can try Dropbox. Not exactly the same, but pretty close. Here's an invite. "

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#32

Post by gravitronic » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 2:38 PM UTC

LeafStorm wrote: post #4

Of course, now the question is: what are they going to do with this $250M? The only new feature that has really come out of Dropbox recently is the API, and even that has been in development for some time.

They needed all this money so they could implement read-only folder sharing.

(I kid, I kid, huge dropbox fan here ;) )

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#33

Post by ph0rque » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 2:38 PM UTC

LeafStorm wrote: post #4

Of course, now the question is: what are they going to do with this $250M? The only new feature that has really come out of Dropbox recently is the API, and even that has been in development for some time.

I hope they buy AeroFS and integrate it into dropbox, giving it a P2P component.

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#34

Post by telemekus » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

And they STILL cant offer users encryption.

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#35

Post by Maakuth » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 2:55 PM UTC

DonnyV wrote: post #28

DonnyV wrote: post #20

So when is Dropbox actually going to be profitable? If you have 45 million users and you can't be self-sufficient then maybe the business model doesn't work.

I just figured with 45 million users why would you need $250 million.

Of course if they're profitable, with that kind of user base they could keep growing organically. Perhaps they see some potential strategic investments that would give them lasting competitive edge, and that need big money.

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#36

Post by mikepurvis » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 2:56 PM UTC

thematt wrote: post #25

LeafStorm wrote: post #4

Of course, now the question is: what are they going to do with this $250M? The only new feature that has really come out of Dropbox recently is the API, and even that has been in development for some time.

They could make a land grab for enterprise users. There's tons of stuff you could do with that money to make Dropbox attractive to corporations.

This one. Making Dropbox more friendly to small-medium businesses: a black-box "dropbox appliance" you put on your LAN (or just the software, in a nice neat Ubuntu package to replace Samba), selective sync and access-management, user groups, encryption, etc.

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#37

Post by morrow » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 3:05 PM UTC

sandieman wrote: post #9

Is iCloud going to be a threat for dropbox?

I think given how Apple treats its windows software properties (iTunes, Safari, QuickTime, and the Apple Updater come to mind), even if they did make a cross-platform iCloud client, it would probably have the same "ported from mac" rather than a "designed for windows" feel, so not likely to be a big threat.

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#38

Post by benologist » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 3:05 PM UTC

tommi wrote: post #14

0x12 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because there are even today a lot more non-apple users than there are apple users and dropbox is platform agnostic. It may cause them some lost sales but nothing threatening.

And in addition, myself including, all apple users are not 100% apple users. I have macs, linux and android and dropbox works with all of those.

That's the big deal breaker really. You have to be pure Apple at home, at work and on your devices for iCloud to be a replacement.

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#39

Post by brlewis » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 3:20 PM UTC

revorad wrote: post #24

0x12 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because there are even today a lot more non-apple users than there are apple users and dropbox is platform agnostic. It may cause them some lost sales but nothing threatening.

Dropbox's platform coverage is truly impressive: Windows, Mac, Linux (LINUX!! GUI _and_ command line), Web, iOS, Android, Blackberry. And it just works on all of them.

The Linux support is a wise move by Dropbox for two reasons: (1) it encourages an eat-your-own-dog-food culture among employees who use Linux, and (2) it enables Dropbox integration with web-based services in ways the API isn't ready for yet. (File updates get pushed to you via dropboxd; you have to poll if you use the API.)

Re: Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users

#40

Post by rednaught » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 6:44 PM UTC

telemekus wrote: post #34

And they STILL cant offer users encryption.

But everyone else is using it now so who needs encryption anyway?

Sorry for the snark. I agree with you but trying to raise a raucous about client-side encryption seems to be useless at this point. I only hope they use some of that funding to implement encryption at the very least for those who want and would use it. Even to make it an add-on price is better than no client-side encryption. But then we still have to trust the actions of the binary executable to not do some other nefarious things.