The cloud file sharing and storage company just snapped up tech start-up Orchestra, the company behind the email app Mailbox. Mailbox, which just went live last month, is a free iPhone app that promises to simplify email for users. The company says it now delivers more than 60 million emails a month.
"To be clear, Mailbox is not going away," Dropbox said in a statement. "The product needs to grow fast, and we believe that joining Dropbox is the best way to make that happen."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Dropbox did not disclose financial details of the acquisition. The Wall Street Journal reported that Orchestra had raised $5.4 million in funding in 2011.
The purchase may mean big things for Dropbox. Since launching in 2008, Dropbox has swelled in size and value — it was worth an estimated $4 billion at its last financing, and now serves more than 100 million users.
Tomio Geron at Forbes says the purchase could suggest "broader ambitions" for Dropbox, which has set out to distinguish itself from cloud storage rivals by adding a slew of new features.
My guess is that Dropbox will eventually build (or buy) a number of features or applications on top of all the data and content that people are storing within the service. That could include the ability to use or manage photos, documents, music, movies or even address books. That’s one way for Dropbox to start charging for different services beyond just additional storage space. It’s also a way to keep users attached to its service and not drifting away to others like Google Drive or Apple iCloud.
This is not to say that Dropbox will necessarily build its own email service to rival Gmail. But Mailbox sits on top of Gmail and helps people manage their files that they receive in email to save within Dropbox. In addition, if one of Dropbox’s key uses is sharing files to collaborate with others, then connecting those files over email is a natural fit. Expect to see more of these types of acquisitions or applications launching from Dropbox. [Forbes]
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
To continue reading this article...
Create a free account
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
register for free
Already have an account? Sign in
Subscribe to The Week
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Subscribe & Save
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Unlimited website access is included with Digital and Print + Digital subscriptions. Create an accountwith the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
'A speaker courageous enough to stand up to the extremists in his own party'
How could the Supreme Court's Fischer v. US case impact the other Jan 6. trials including Trump's?
Today's political cartoons - April 18, 2024
