Dropbox Gobbles Up Popular Mailbox iOS App, Both Products Live On
Mailbox is a hot new iOS email client app. Dropbox is one of the most popular consumer cloud storage and sharing tools around. Now, the former is joining the latter, which could make for some interesting cross-pollination.
What’s notable about this merging of minds is that Mailbox is a brand new baby app, having launched just a few weeks ago, but there’s already a long line of people on the wait list to actually receive it. According to the company, it has grown by a factor of 2,000 since its launch.
Here’s a video showing how Mailbox works. (No one will blame you if you tap your foot a little to the tune):
The advantage for Mailbox in joining Dropbox is clear--they need to scale, and fast. Having a long queue for your Next Big Thing is wonderful and drives interest among consumers, but if that line gets too long, people start bailing.
So what does Dropbox see in Mailbox? The kind words are flowing from both camps, but there are no specifics to discuss yet. This is as close as Dropbox has come: “After spending time with Gentry, Scott, and the team, it became clear that their calling was the same as ours at Dropbox—to solve life’s hidden problems and reimagine the things we do every day,” said the company in a blog post. “We all quickly realized that together we could save millions of people a lot of pain.”
We imagine that Dropbox is looking to expand the sort of services it offers, and tighter email integration is probably enticing. Essentially, it could clone what Microsoft has done with its new Outlook and SkyDrive combo, which is to connect one’s email directly with cloud storage and obviating the need for attachments that are both clunky and gobble up inbox storage space.
Plus, the two companies’ nomenclature already jibes perfectly: Mailbox and Dropbox. It’s like a match made in heaven.
What’s notable about this merging of minds is that Mailbox is a brand new baby app, having launched just a few weeks ago, but there’s already a long line of people on the wait list to actually receive it. According to the company, it has grown by a factor of 2,000 since its launch.
Here’s a video showing how Mailbox works. (No one will blame you if you tap your foot a little to the tune):
The advantage for Mailbox in joining Dropbox is clear--they need to scale, and fast. Having a long queue for your Next Big Thing is wonderful and drives interest among consumers, but if that line gets too long, people start bailing.
So what does Dropbox see in Mailbox? The kind words are flowing from both camps, but there are no specifics to discuss yet. This is as close as Dropbox has come: “After spending time with Gentry, Scott, and the team, it became clear that their calling was the same as ours at Dropbox—to solve life’s hidden problems and reimagine the things we do every day,” said the company in a blog post. “We all quickly realized that together we could save millions of people a lot of pain.”
We imagine that Dropbox is looking to expand the sort of services it offers, and tighter email integration is probably enticing. Essentially, it could clone what Microsoft has done with its new Outlook and SkyDrive combo, which is to connect one’s email directly with cloud storage and obviating the need for attachments that are both clunky and gobble up inbox storage space.
Plus, the two companies’ nomenclature already jibes perfectly: Mailbox and Dropbox. It’s like a match made in heaven.
