Something is definitely happening within the cloud storage space–it’s getting hot!! And for some reason, it all seems to want to target Android users. Why? Is it because right now, Android phones outnumber the iPhone market here in the US? Quite possibly? Maybe it’s the open source nature of Android? Who knows, but one thing is for sure, two of the biggest leaders in cloud storage have just ramped up their efforts to get you to use their service.
One such company is Box and this week, they announced that they were giving up to 50GB of free cloud storage to Android users. This is an incredible amount that will really encourage people to start saving their data in the cloud. Why? For one, you won’t need to worry about always emailing that file to yourself when you want to work from multiple computers and you can avoid having that discussion about “file size limits” by using a service like Box. What’s more, Box is really going after Dropbox users because out of the main competitors (SugarSync, Dropbox, and Microsoft SkyDrive), none really offer anything close to 50GB like Box is. But the only catch here? You need to be an Android user and have the Box app on your smartphone and/or tablet. Oh, and this is only for personal use only…sorry business users, you’re going to need to deal with what you have. There’s a bit more to the deal but will this be enough to convince people to leave Dropbox? That might be a tough thing to try and do…
The world of cloud storage seems to be one of those “anything you can do, I can do better” type of environments. Now that Box has announced its 50GB of storage for those using their Android app, Dropbox has come out fighting with an increase of their own. Granted that it’s nothing compared to Box, but Dropbox is increasing their storage limit from 2GB to 5GB. Why? Because they’re interested in helping you store your content without it being lost. In a TechCrunch post, cofounder and CEO Drew Houston said that Dropbox’s mission in life was to help solve all the “hidden problems” that people have had with technology.
What exactly are these “hidden problems”? Who knows, but the solution that the service is coming up with is finding a way to keep your photos taken from all your devices safe and secure–all in one central place. Starting this week, Dropbox has released its very own Android app (with iOS version coming soon) for Dropbox. This mobile app will automatically upload your photos and videos to Dropbox using Wi-Fi or your data plan. One of the best things is that it’ll all be saved in the original format–no size reduction or quality disruptions.
TechCrunch’s Jason Kincaid raised a good point in his post about the Dropbox move: “err, don’t iCloud and Google+ already let you do this?”
I don’t know about iCloud, but with Google+, the fact is that they’re not primarily a cloud storage service–even though we hear about “Google Drive”, the service isn’t a storage service, it’s a social network. No matter what Google’s television commercials say, I believe most people will probably associate Dropbox with being the service to use to store your data in the Cloud. In fact, the explanation that Mr. Houston gave was pretty spot on…there are a lot of people out there who aren’t using either of those services (Google+ and/or iCloud). Most Dropbox users aren’t using Macs at all, so iCloud won’t necessarily work and Google+ is still just getting started.
Dropbox appears to be wanting to start to take over the Internet and become the de facto service for those seeking Cloud storage. And while they’re not going to be giving away a lot of storage, one probably wonders what else lies in store for Dropbox and what other functionality do the wizards of the Cloud have in store?
