When Apple CEO Steve Jobs resigned and was replaced by the then COO Tim Cook, many had speculated that following the change at the top, we could see some differences in the decisions made by Apple. As always, Apple tries to be one step ahead of all of its competitors, be it the smartphone or tablet market or the personal computing market. A yet to be confirmed rumour indicates that Apple had offered to buy Dropbox for $800 million but the increasingly popular startup has declined the offer.
Basically, Dropbox is a web based file hosting service which uses cloud computing to allow its users to not only store but to share their files and folders with however they wish too using the internet. All files uploaded to Dropbox accounts are kept in perfect sync. By default on signing up you are given 2GB of free storage which you can use to store your files and folders. A referral based program can give you as much as 8GB of free storage if you get enough people to join. There is also a paid model for those who wish to get even more storage and are willing to pay for it. Dropbox has many client softwares for majority of platforms including mobile ones like Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7. The company was launched back in 2007 and has achieved immeasurable success in a short span of four years.
After having gained around $4 billion in a round of funding, Dropbox’s revenue for this year is expected to be $100 million. A very handsome revenue for a company that is relatively nascent in the market. If this source is to be believed, Apple saw this opportunity to strike gold and offered Dropbox $800 million however the company has declined their offer because they too think that this is just the beginning for Dropbox.
Apple on the other hand recently announced Mac OS X Lion. One of the major features of OS X Lion is the AirDrop feature which makes transferring files between Macs quite a lot easier. It seems logical for Apple to want to acquire a company that particularly works and specializes in that domain. However it looks like Apple would either have to offer an amount that Dropbox can not refuse or simply takeover one of many Dropbox competitors in the market.
They did not gain $4 billion in a round of funding…
> After having gained around $4 billion in a round of funding
Did you mean $4 [b]million[/b]?
Good. I love dropbox, and I wouldn’t want to have some shitty company over viewing it.
I believe its $4 billion _valuation_ not $4 billion of _funding_. http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/30/index-leads-4-billion-valuation-round-in-dropbox/
+1! Get the +1 button!
Glad to see Dropbox turned this down. What bothers me is that Apple is continuing to “steal” the best features from non-Apple applications and then integrating those features into its OS. If I’m a small developer and just released an app with some amazing features, and Apple simply takes those features, I’m less likely to sell my app, and therefore less likely to continue developing new ones. This puts the ecosystem at risk. Tread carefully, Apple.
Well if I got 4 billion on funding, I would also refuse… But they got $250 – 300 million in funding which values the company at $4 billion.
The offer of Apple is very correct,
Take the money, I for one will discard Dropbox the minute iCloud is released it’s a lousy sharing service but great for storage. I am sure Apple can do a better job of sharing.
$800,000,000 is about what dropbox is worth I think.
@Jeff
What features have Apple “stolen” from non-Apple applications? Which feature did they “steal” from you?
@Tape
Yeah some shitty company being the second most valuable in the world and one of the most successful tech companies, if not THE most successful.
I love the ease of use of Dropbox, however if they did accept Apple’s offer, I think I would be one of the first to leave the service. I don’t trust Apple as far as I can thrown them, or their CEO.
For a company that prides itself on innovation, this seems to be an odd move. Very Microsoft-ish move – take over then integrate. Glad DB refused, and Apple will probably counter, as they know the value is there.
Personally, John Underwood, you may have had issues with them (sharing), but I’ve not had any…and I’m guessing the vast majority haven’t either. Apple wouldn’t want to purchase if they were “lousy”…unless strictly to shut them down (again MS-ish).
@Ryan,
Apple steals stuff sometimes. The most egregious example is Dashboard and its Widgets, which were stolen unapologetically from a program called Konfabulator.
There are other examples.