Dropbox Acquires Mailbox 63
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Soulskill
from the go-together-like-chocolatebox-and-peanutbutterbox dept.
from the go-together-like-chocolatebox-and-peanutbutterbox dept.
Dropbox announced today that it is acquiring Mailbox, an iOS email client designed to take better advantage of a touch interface. The app launched last month, and the Mailbox team says they're already delivering more than 60 million emails daily. Demand for the service continues to grow, so they were exploring their options to expand. They said,
"We can’t wait to put Mailbox in the hands of everyone who wants it. This means not only continuing to scale the service, but also including support for more email providers and mobile devices. Add to that a host of new features and we’ve got a LOT of work to do, certainly more than our current team of 14 can handle. We need to grow and we need to grow thoughtfully, with top-notch people who share our goals and values. Enter Dropbox, the team from San Francisco who helps over 100M people bring their photos, docs, and videos with them anywhere. They’re a profoundly talented bunch who build great tools that make work frictionless, and Mailbox fits Dropbox’s mission like a glove. Plus, they’ve got a ton of experience scaling services and are experts at handling people’s data with care. In short, Dropbox is our kind of company."
Who really using these services? (Score:2, Interesting)
And by "these services", I mean cloud services in general. I have several of these accounts. All of which were something like, get a free 50GB account when you buy this gadget. Even with 100"s of GBs of cloud space available to me, I find I don"t use any of it. Sure, I will upload some large files from time to time if I know I want to transfer them to another PC at work for example.
I never put anything on these services that I cannot afford to lose. I cannot say exactly the main reason, but basically,
1. I want direct control over my data
2. The US government has said, if it is in the cloud, you do not own it, and they can look all they want. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57552225-38/senate-bill-rewrite-lets-feds-read-your-e-mail-without-warrants/ [cnet.com]
3. Who else is looking? Are they selling the jist of the information to target markers?
4. When they go out of business, what happens to my data?
5. If I upload all my music, can I expect a visit from the RIAA to examine receipts of purchase?
6. What if my connection drops or is really really slow?
In my point of view, data services are oversold. My Internet provider, like many others has way over sold its capacity. As such, most providers are doing what ever they can to discourage using the product they sell. Whether it be caps or increased pricing for a reasonable DL/UP speed. This goes double for mobile data services.
With this trend become more and more common, in my eyes, these cloud services which require massive amounts of data transfer, become less and less viable.
Re:Who really using these services? (Score:4, Interesting)
I use Dropbox, because I have several computers that I want to keep in sync. A couple times a year, I will actually log in to Dropbox... the other 99% of the time, it is just a syncing service between my computers, that has the added benefit of:
Dropbox is different from most cloud services, because if they disappear I still have all my files. They are on MY computer, not just the cloud, and that makes a big difference.