Galaxy S III Buyers On AT&T And Verizon Won't Get That 50GB Dropbox Promotion
What's that? A bitter beer face? Sour grapes? No, just two of America's largest wireless carriers refusing to let customers have any fun whatsoever. Folks who follow this industry closely may remember that Samsung was going to give away 48GB of Dropbox space (in addition to the free 2GB that each new signup gets, bringing it to a total of 50GB) with each Galaxy S III. Outside of the obvious choice between Google Drive and Dropbox, avid users of the latter were surely looking forward to such a huge cloud storage box.
But unfortunately, it seems that American carriers have a say in whether or not the promotion is granted. In Dropbox's FAQ section related to the Galaxy promotion, there's this snippet about U.S. AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers: "Select carriers have opted-out of the promotion on phones otherwise eligible. Unfortunately, AT&T and Verizon are among these carriers not currently participating."
Ouch. The only thing we can think of is that both carriers are afraid of effectively encouraging customers to routinely upload and download to the cloud. Both carriers are currently looking at ways to enforce stricter tiers and get more people to start using less data, and advertising the option to have 50GB in the could doesn't really go along with that message. Imagine how fast uneducated customers would hit their monthly tier limit if they thought that this 50GB promotion entitled them to unlimited cloud usage.
Either way, it's a huge bummer for American customers who would be smart enough to not abuse wireless data even with 50GB of Dropbox storage on tap. But sadly, it's hardly a surprise; we're struggling to think of the last time a major U.S. wireless operator did something that was actually consumer-friendly.
But unfortunately, it seems that American carriers have a say in whether or not the promotion is granted. In Dropbox's FAQ section related to the Galaxy promotion, there's this snippet about U.S. AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers: "Select carriers have opted-out of the promotion on phones otherwise eligible. Unfortunately, AT&T and Verizon are among these carriers not currently participating."
Ouch. The only thing we can think of is that both carriers are afraid of effectively encouraging customers to routinely upload and download to the cloud. Both carriers are currently looking at ways to enforce stricter tiers and get more people to start using less data, and advertising the option to have 50GB in the could doesn't really go along with that message. Imagine how fast uneducated customers would hit their monthly tier limit if they thought that this 50GB promotion entitled them to unlimited cloud usage.
Either way, it's a huge bummer for American customers who would be smart enough to not abuse wireless data even with 50GB of Dropbox storage on tap. But sadly, it's hardly a surprise; we're struggling to think of the last time a major U.S. wireless operator did something that was actually consumer-friendly.
