New email app Mailbox, which was launched by Orchestra last month, has been acquired by Dropbox. In a post on the company’s blog, the Mailbox team said that this acquisition was about accelerating growth for Mailbox.
Enter Dropbox, the team from San Francisco who helps over 100M people bring their photos, docs, and videos with them anywhere. They’re a profoundly talented bunch who build great tools that make work frictionless, and Mailbox fits Dropbox’s mission like a glove. Plus, they’ve got a ton of experience scaling services and are experts at handling people’s data with care. In short, Dropbox is our kind of company.
Orchestra was adamant that Mailbox would not be going away, and that this move was primarily about scaling to meet demand as fast as possible. With the Dropbox team behind Mailbox, those still waiting in line to use the app could see that wait decrease dramatically. This acquisition might allow the Orchestra team to improve on and expand the app sooner rather than later.
So... what do you think? Will Dropbox make for a better Mailbox, or are you over Mailbox already?
Source: Mailbox
Reader comments
Mailbox acquired by Dropbox
Hi Folks,
Can anybody explain to me why would some company implement such a big project and give it away for free? Honestly I don't get it... not that I don't like it... but why?
Also, what is the security of such products if you have to give your password to gmail account? I am still a bit hesitant to share it. Maybe if we knew that it is not stored on Mailbox servers or encrypted in some way. Again I am not an expert but it would be great to hear some answers how does it work. Anybody?
Have a nice day :)
Oh good thing, because I was only like number 818,205th in line... Not sure how this will affect the quality of the app, but I'm guessing will be for the better for the company to scale up.
I've found that because of Mailbox I use Gmail more frequently. The app has a clean UI and the experience is just awesome. Hopefully with Dropbox they will be able to expand the app and offer support for other email accounts.
one of my favorite apps. The integration of the mailbox and drop box would be cool
Does anyone know how Dropbox makes money?
With Mailbox and Dropbox everything will be in the box! :D
Yeah! i'm excited to see how they will improve Mailbox, and which features might be waiting for! especially me cause i have everyday tons of email!! let see if they will help me to let them more organized!! and see how far i'll be saving time.
I've been on board with Dropbox for sometime now. My wife and I share an account for family stuff and I have a separate one for my real estate business. Dropbox ties in awesomely with so many apps that I use for business.
I started using Mailbox on my two work addresses about a month ago. I love the interface and the functionality of the app.
So, two companies that I kinda like are now in bed together and I'm not sure how I feel about it. My first thought was excitement that maybe some of the Mailbox design would seep into Dropbox. The DB app isn't bad, it's just not gee-whiz, blow me away cool. I'm really hoping for some sweet synergy.
Just wait til they get really successful. Then their competition will start an ad campaign urging us all to "think outside the 'Box".
Another one swallowed up by Dropbox. Last one was Audiogalaxy (they never did anything with that product, still, that I know of)... and before that it was an image site/service which I can't even remember who it was, because they disappeared into obscurity...
My question is— is Dropbox buying these products/companies to use and integrate their technologies, or are they merely "buying out the competition"?
Honestly, I see no evidence of either. Post-acquisition, I never see these purchased products or technologies integrated or implemented in any noticeable form... and I don't quite see how Mailbox could be considered "competition".
Mailbox excels at one thing above all others— and it's not making tremendous, innovative apps... it's "EFFECTIVE MARKETING". They know how to create demand for a product, simple as that. Are there millions of people waiting in queue for months and months because the app is just THAT mind blowing?!
No. In fact, probably half the people in the queue don't know what the hell the app even does, specifically! Or looks like, for that matter! Ask them why they're waiting in line forever as they all are willing to do: "What feature(s) are you excited about once you get a chance to use the app?", etc...
50% will not have an answer— bet.
It's a classic case of herd mentality and implementation of concepts that pull a little from economics, sociology and psychology... and it has clearly worked beautifully.
My point is not to demean the app. I'm not claiming it's not an excellent app. I don't know, because I'm still in queue, LOL! Even I'm not above the hype— knowing very well I'm just another puppet of marketing appeal. That's what I'm talking about, though! Why am I interested in it, even? Because so many other people are, I suppose. It's human nature— socio-economic psychology. What about the app? What app?
Oh, right. The one I'm in line to try, Mailbox, was it? Yeah... can't wait until I finally get through the line! I'm really excited about— whatever it does. I don't exactly know, but it's gotta be pretty cool if there's such a huge demand for it!
WRONG. A shrewd marketing campaign/salesman could have the masses queued up to smell a turd. "Demand" has no reliable correlation to the quality, usefulness, effectiveness (etc...) of a product or service. It DOES carry that connotation, but it can be a false inference. Look at Justin Beiber. He's the metaphorical polished turd I speak of... and his record company and sponsors have millions of people just relishing the stench wafting off of that steaming dog pile! Does that imply talent? Yes. False inference? I don't know. You tell me... haha. Just kidding with all that; I understand the reality of subjective opinion and the philosophical debate of universal truths or lack thereof.
So what is my point after talking about turds and telling you how my day went, etc? My point was that maybe THAT is the reason this acquired company is seen as valuable to Dropbox— not so much their product, but their savvy marketing skills. Just my thoughts. Seems an odd acquisition to me. It's like McDonald's buying out Lowe's or Home Depot (home improvement retail chains, for non-Americans). You'd have to pause, at least for a second, to go "huh?"...
Odd move I thought, was kinda hoping Apple would grab them to improve the iOS app.
Haven't been able to get into the mailbox app. Something about inbox zero that I feel would make me crazy.
Love DropBox. Heard good things about Mailbox. Still wait-listed. But as a gmail user, am looking forward to trying it and trust DropBox.
The speed of this acquisition surprised me, but I'm glad Dropbox beat anyone else to the table. I'm a big Dropbox fan and excited to see how they incorporate their features w/ MailBox
Well that didn't last long...
Gmail is holding me back.
I have really enjoyed my new mailbox app but hopefully with Dropbox now involved we will get support for all other email other than gmail.
I just got Mailbox today. We will see how it goes.
To be honest, I'm kinda over it. I've had it for a few weeks, but I just don't see that much benefit to it. I haven't opened the app in days...
I was really hoping Apple would buy them but I guess Mailbox is a power user app not for the average user. Good move for Dropbox
I just hope they do not kill the app the way Google killed Sparrow.
I only found out about Sparrow when I read about the acquisition by Google. It sounded like a great app and one I would have purchased. It does kind of irk me, however, that they continue to charge full price for the app when they openly stated they will no longer develop for it. At least drop the price.
yet another company killed by Dropbox. ugh.
Sometimes I think apps start out great, but the main goal of the programer(s) is hoping a major company will buy them out, and sometimes a great app becomes fantastic, or just disappears. I do not know if it is case here, but seems it is happening more, and more lately.
In still in waits for the app, I did notice it started flowing out faster the other day, I've got 138,000 people in front of me, but seeing as how Dropbox is nice and fast, I'm hoping it really does help Mailbox out.
Should be interesting
Great, does that mean they will discontinue this like they discontinued AudioGalaxy soon after they acquired them?
I bet Dropbox will make Mailbox soooo much better.
Never been big on Dropbox because I have always used Sugar Sync. I looooove Mailbox though and hope that the Dropbox people don't screw around with it too much unless it improves! I just want to see access to more services like Yahoo mail. Also, they need to get rid of the "lists" which is useless and give us access to our tags/folders instead. Give me all of that and I could fully let go of the stock mail app!
Gmail and Outlook better watch out now cause we have a deadly combination here. Any word on acquisition price?
Whoa, did not expect this. I understand from Mailbox's point of view how Dropbox will help it expand much faster. I wonder if Dropbox will integrate portions of Mailbox somehow?
I wonder if this means that mailbox will now have dropbox integration so that you can send files directly from your dropbox account? I was one of the fortunate few that got mailbox in the first days it came out and find it severely lacking in functionality it has a nice user interface that is very limited in what it can do by Apple.
I'm 2xx,xxx in line; and I cannot believe dropbox acquired Mailbox! That's awesome! Especially because Mailbox announced a long way back that they plan to have a PAID VERSION. Can't wait to see what the paid version entails.
Wow, I read this, check the queue for the app, i've gone from 400121 down to 90,697 in day! Jesus. Did not expect that!
Seeing as how I was at 300xxx last night and I'm now I'm 291,482, I call absolute bull that you moved that fast in line.
I am so exited to try this app. I have been waiting what seems like years. I hope they can speed up the line soon. I really need help with organizing me email inbox.
I signed up to get mailbox and did but decided the native app was good enough for me and gmail and icloud email that I have. I wonder what dropbox will do now that they own it and what direction they will take it.
I'm too curious to see what droobox does with this.
Over it. No support for aliases and when I first opened app it asked me if I wanted to archive my starred items. Sure, I thought, why not. It didn't mention that default setting was to remove all stars when it archived messages. Lost 3 years worth of stars.
Lol. Unorganized, that's what you call that.
I haven't gotten in line yet, but this might make me more likely TO get in line...Ill wait and see what DropBox does with this!
well i'm at 40,xxx in line, so hopefully SOON!!! ugh!! ;)
Still waiting for my Mailbox invite to come through. Gave up on waiting. Love Dropbox though, I can only imagine good things around the corner for it.
I have been using Mailbox for quite sometime now, and I absolutely LOVE IT. As a matter of fact, I have forwarded my work and another email address to GMAIL.
I really think that Dropbox will be able to make it a better app, and I am happy that it was not Google that bought them out so they could sit on it for 238923892 months.
I've just started using Mailbox and find it nice. I'm currently thinking of merging my professional emails with my personal to really use its full potential.
Now regarding dropbox, well with all these cloud storage solutions out there (including the 50 Gb from Mega) I have to admit that I just dropped dropbox... The icon takes dust in the last icon page.
Maybe if dropbox could benefit from Mailbox's interface and ease of use, I would consider giving it another try.
Company acquired before I am even still able to access it after waiting nearly a month. I should be down in the 10s of thousands hopefully. Have not checked in a few days.
And I finally jumped to around 260,000 in line, and now this :)
I'm excited to try it!
The app looks great but I am not a big gmail user so I am waiting for them to build in support for other email services before I download it.