(Image Source: Digital Trends / Dropbox)
BY GARY COTTON
A frat boy founds a company. Steve Jobs offers him nine figures for his start -up - and he refuses the offer. Now Drew Houston’s Dropbox is worth $4 billion. Forbes asked the CEO why he and his partner made the gamble.
Anchor: "You turned him down, what was going through your head? You’re turning down this icon in technology, your hero."
Houston: "He said he liked our product which is I can’t think of higher praise than that and that’s how we started the meeting. We said that we totally understand the potential benefits there, but we really are excited about the prospect of building a really great independent company.”
And according to Mashable, the move might have been a good one. It says the iCloud predecessor has recently raised.
“$250 million in Series B financing and is on track to triple its user base this year.”
So the guy took Steve Jobs head-on and held his own. But does that mean he’s got the better product? A writer for Nexus 404 questions whether iOS 5 users will drop Dropbox.
“It will now be a matter of ubiquity and brand mindshare … Sure, Dropbox has been upgraded to support iOS 5, but will Apple users prefer a third-party app or the iOS’ built-in iCloud?”
But remember, iCloud is Apple specific. Lets say you want to sync a Microsoft Word document to your iPhone. A writer for Apple Bitch says this still poses a problem.
“Apple has already enabled iCloud functionality in their own iWork software and it works beautifully [but] iCloud is limited to a few select file types...I do like the freedom that Dropbox gives me. If more iCloud compatible apps appear (which they will), this view is likely to change.”
But a writer for Gizmodo says there’s no use comparing apples and oranges. Dropbox is doing well because it’s just a different service.
“iCloud is the invisible maid, taking contacts and calendars, syncing them without a whisper, out of sight, out of mind. Dropbox is a gigabyte-stuffed backpack you can send anywhere stuffed with anything.”
According to Forbes, Steve Jobs didn’t take the rejection too well. He later called Dropbox a feature not a product.
Transcript by Newsy.
