Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–99 of 99 posts

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#91

Post by Semiapies »

Woost wrote: post #88
Semiapies wrote: post #67

I simply don't believe this story. If you have $100+ million to throw at as fundamentally simple a product as Dropbox is, you have more than enough to make a good clone of it. It's not like Jobs can deny it now.

Plus there's the issue of time: If you have 100+million to throw at something and get it right now(in 6 months after due diligence), or spend the 100 mil on an in house project, wait 3 years, and get it then...which would you take? Personally, if I had that kind of money to throw around, I'd want it now, so I can start implementing my vision now. Don't take the numbers here too literally, 3 years might only be 1 year…

Why on Earth would you think it would take $100 million or more to do this?

Why would Apple (or any other OS company) be in a hurry to get this product?

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#92

Post by marvin »

elithrar wrote: post #87
urza wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they want to be the "Filesystem of the internet" - this is scary, I really hope they won't succeed.

> they want to be the "Filesystem of the internet" - this is scary, I really hope they won't succeed. Why? Are you interpreting this differently from me? I see them as wanting to provide universal storage for web & mobile applications, in a way that allows you to access your documents & photos across multiple devices and platforms.

Not just documents and photos. In general, working with files on the web is difficult since JavaScript doesn't (yet) let you access the file system. If Dropbox provides really good support for this, they can solve the entire file headache and open up for a whole new type of web applications, while at the same time providing seamless access to the resultant files. This is a pretty big deal.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#93

Post by madh »

startupcto wrote: post #14

I think the fundamental differences between Dropbox and iCloud is the sharing feature and Windows/Linux/Mac/etc support. iCloud is never going to be on Windows and our company uses Dropbox to share project resources and our machines are a mixed of PCs and Macs so iCloud means nothing for us.

Do you think that if Apple bought Dropbox, Dropbox would still be on all those platforms with such strong support? I don't think so.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#94

Post by lwhi »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #89
lwhi wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. As Steve Jobs is quoted in the article; Dropbox is only half the solution. Apple's 'full' solution involves the necessary purchase of their hardware and software as well. Dropbox works across the board, without prejudice.

No, the other half is getting people to use the product. It's easier if you can make it seamless and bake it in rather than a third party solution. They probably wanted to own the solution to leverage any trust they have with their customers. It's the same thing that happened with backups, they came up with Time Machine. Pretty much all the Mac users I know have a Time Machine backup. I believe the same thing will ha…

"No, the other half is getting people to use the product."

More than 45 million people use Dropbox. I think they have that part of the problem solved.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#95

Post by bambax »

Sonos is a company that's not often talked about but which seems to be doing fairly well (although I don't know that for a fact; I'm just a (very) happy customer).

Sonos is a direct competitor to AirPlay, and even a kind of crippled one: Sonos only works on Sonos devices; AirPlay works on many non-Apple devices.

So why would anyone buy Sonos?

It just works. The quality is incredible. You can stream audio from the web to all your speakers (which I don't think is doable, realistically, with AirPlay).

Point is, just because Apple invests a market doesn't mean everyone else dies.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#96

Post by run4yourlives »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #83
run4yourlives wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree with you re: iCloud, as that Apple's MO in all their actions. However I can only gauge risk based on what I can see. It's possible that dropbox can revolutionize some new space that changes the equation, but this isn't evident right now, nor is it easily foreseen to be imminent. Given that, it doesn't look like a viable strategy for them, at least from my removed vantage point.

Did you factor this into your strategy viability assessment?: If DropBox sold to Apple, they'd be out of The Game. Instead of carving out their own niche, with the thrill and risk that goes with it, they'd be supporting a game that Apple has already defined, and is winning. They wouldn't be able to gallop forward towards a future of their choosing, with competitors making them Better from all sides, they'd be IT supp…

I'm not sure why adding $1B to your net worth somehow reduces your ability to be an entrepreneur. Most founders have a line up of 5 viabile products in their head at any given time anyway.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#97

Post by badclient »

Semiapies wrote: post #90
badclient wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you have more than enough to make a good clone of it You are being naive if you think that given enough money, you can clone any product. That's simply false, especially for large orgs where more money invested towards a project can even become more of a problem than aid.

Sounds like someone once read a blog post about The Mythical Man-Month ! Hint: lots of companies that aren't five guys and a GitHub account produce software. Apple is one of them, and DropBox isn't that mysterious a product.

Let's not change the topic of debate. The topic of debate never was whether Apple can produce software. It was whether Apple can achieve the same goals or even better by building instead of acquiring Dropbox mostly because they have money. I believe the answer is no.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#98

Post by Semiapies »

badclient wrote: post #97
Semiapies wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like someone once read a blog post about The Mythical Man-Month ! Hint: lots of companies that aren't five guys and a GitHub account produce software. Apple is one of them, and DropBox isn't that mysterious a product.

Let's not change the topic of debate. The topic of debate never was whether Apple can produce software. It was whether Apple can achieve the same goals or even better by building instead of acquiring Dropbox mostly because they have money. I believe the answer is no.

There is no "topic of debate", there's just you making inane remarks and my observing that you're full of shit.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#99

Post by erikpukinskis »

chubs wrote: post #85
erikpukinskis wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you factor this into your strategy viability assessment?: If DropBox sold to Apple, they'd be out of The Game. Instead of carving out their own niche, with the thrill and risk that goes with it, they'd be supporting a game that Apple has already defined, and is winning. They wouldn't be able to gallop forward towards a future of their choosing, with competitors making them Better from all sides, they'd be IT supp…

But here's the thing: if i had sold out for almost a billion, you could either see that as a retirement, or you could see it as a platform that you can use for even bigger entrepreneurial projects? Ie with that kind of money behind you, you can take on, say, healthcare or something much bigger. There can be more to it than 'if i take the money, i'm forced to spend the rest of my days on a yacht, enjoying life but was…

Most "bigger entrepreneurial projects" are built on a platform that includes BOTH money AND a sustainable core business. Think Microsoft's BASIC compiler, Odeo, the Tesla Roadster, etc.

I think many founders who sell out realize that the latter is often the harder of the two to procure.

You are correct, though, if your goal is buy a yacht you should sell when that becomes possible.

Post reply on HN