Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2007, by MIT students Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, as a startup company, with initial funding from Y Combinator seed accelerator.
Dropbox can create custom folders on user computers, content that is then synced to Dropbox servers and to computers and other devices that Dropbox has installed by users, keeping the same files updated on all devices. Dropbox uses a freemium business model, where users are offered free accounts with a set storage size, with paid subscriptions available that offer more capacity and additional features. Basic Dropbox users are given 2 gigabytes of free storage space. Plus Dropbox users are given 1 terabyte storage space, as well as additional features, including advanced sharing controls, remote wipe, and optional Additional Version add-ons. Dropbox offers computer applications for Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, and Linux computers, and mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone smartphones and tablets. In March 2013, the company acquired Mailbox, a popular email application, and in April 2014, the company introduced Dropbox Carousel, a photo and video gallery app. Both Mailbox and South Korea closed in December 2015, with key features of both apps being applied to the regular Dropbox service. In October 2015, it officially announced Dropbox Paper, its collaborative document editor, in a reported effort to expand its operations on the business. As of March 2016, Dropbox has 500 million users.
Dropbox has received praise, including the 2010 Crunchie Award for Best Internet Applications, and the Macworld `s Choice Award Editor 2009 for the Software. It has been ranked as one of the most valuable startups in the US and the world, with an assessment of over US $ 10 billion, and has been described as one of the most successful Y Combinator investments to date. However, Dropbox also underwent criticism and caused controversy for issues including security breaches and privacy issues.
Video Dropbox (service)
Histori
Dropbox's founder, Drew Houston, understood the Dropbox concept after repeatedly forgetting his USB flash drive when he was a student at MIT. In a 2009 "Meet the Team" post on the Dropbox blog, he wrote that the services at the time were "having problems with Internet latency, big files, bugs, or just making me think too much". He starts making things for his personal needs, but then realizes that they can benefit others with the same problem. Houston founded Dropbox, Inc. in June 2007, and soon got initial funding from Y Combinator. Officially Dropbox was launched at TechCrunch Disrupt 2008, an annual technology conference. Due to trademark dispute between Proxy, Inc. and Evenflow (Dropbox's parent company), Dropbox's official domain name was "get dropbox.com" until October 2009, when it acquired its current domain, "dropbox.com". In an interview with TechCrunch <Ã,Â's "Founder Stories" in October 2011, Houston explained that the demo video was released during Dropbox's early days, with one audience being Arash Ferdowsi. Ferdowsi was "so impressed" that they formed a partnership. Regarding the competition, Houston stated that "It's very easy for me to explain the idea, it's actually very difficult to do." User growth
Dropbox has seen steady user growth since its inception. It surpassed the achievement of 1 million registered users in April 2009, followed by 2 million in September, and 3 million in November. This past 50 million users in October 2011, 100 million in November 2012, 200 million in November 2013, 400 million in June 2015, and 500 million in March 2016.
Acquisitions
In July 2012, Dropbox acquired TapEngage, a startup that "allows advertisers and publishers to collaborate on tablet-optimized ads". The following December, Dropbox acquired two companies; Audiogalaxy, a startup "allows users to store their music files and playlists in the cloud and then stream them to any device," and Snapjoy, the company that allows users to "merge, archive and view all their digital photos from their cameras, phones and apps popular ones like Flickr, Instagram and Picasa, and then view them online or via the iOS app ". In July 2013, Dropbox acquired Endorse, "mobile startup coupon".
In May 2014, Dropbox acquired Bubbli, a startup that has "built several innovative ways of incorporating 3D technology into 2D viewing, and packing it in mobile apps".
In January 2015, Dropbox acquired CloudOn, a company that provides mobile applications for editing and creating documents. At the same time, Dropbox notifies TechCrunch that the CloudOn base at Herzliya will be the first Dropbox office in Israel. In July, Dropbox acquired Clementine, a communications services company.
In April 2014, Dropbox acquired photo-sharing company Loom (which will be closed and integrated with the recently announced South Korea), and hacker-sharing hackers. Dropbox was later announced in April 2017 that Hackpad will be disabled on July 19, with all records migrated to Dropbox Paper.
Maps Dropbox (service)
Platform
Dropbox has computer applications for Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, and Linux computers, and mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone smartphones and tablets. It also offers a website interface. As part of its partnership with Microsoft, Dropbox announced the Windows 10 universal application in January 2016.
The Dropbox app offers an automatic photo upload feature, which allows users to automatically upload photos or videos from their cameras, tablets, SD cards, or smartphones to a special "Camera Upload" folder in their Dropbox. Users are given 500 megabytes of extra space to upload their first photo, and are given up to 3 gigabytes of additional space if the user continues to use this method for more photos.
In July 2014, Dropbox introduced "streaming sync" for its computer apps. Streaming sync is described as a new "supercharged" synchronization speed for large files that increase upload time or download up to 2 times.
In August 2015, Dropbox announced the availability of a USB security key "Universal 2nd Factor", providing two-factor authentication for entry into its service.
Financial
Dropbox received initial funding from the Y Combinator stage accelerator. Dropbox also raised US $ 1.2 million in Serie A funding from Sequoia Capital in 2007, that "together with interest (in that amount) is converted into equity as part of the A Series investment, which includes a fresh US $ 6 million ", bringing the total amount to US $ 7.25 million, with rounds closing in 2008 and documents filed in 2009.
A May 2010 report in The Wall Street Journal says that "since [founder Drew Houston] started reading Lean Eric Ries startup blog about a year ago, the company has begun to drip new features when they are ready to over- instead of waiting to launch a full-featured product.That helps test customer tastes, he says, by redirecting the "minimum decent product" practice.
TechCrunch reported in July 2011 that Dropbox had been looking to raise between US $ 200 and US $ 300 million, and had an assessment "ending in the range of $ 5 billion to $ 10 billion. [...] an increase from the previous round of funding totaling $ 7.2 million. " As noted in the Forbes article, Dropbox has "revenue on track to reach $ 240 million in 2011".
In April 2012, Dropbox announced that Bono and The Edge, two members of Irish rock band U2, are individual investors in the company.
In March 2017, Bloomberg reported that Dropbox had secured a credit worth US $ 600 million, with the company expected to file for an initial public offering (IPO) "as soon as this year".
In February 2018, Dropbox filed an IPO for inclusion on the Nasdaq. The company's initial intention was to raise $ 500 million. Dropbox shares rose 42 percent to $ 29.89 on the first day of trading on March 23, 2018.
On March 23, 2018, when investors raced into buying into the first largest share of innovation in more than a year, Dropbox Inc. shares closed at $ 28.42, up more than 35 percent on their first day of trading on Friday. Stock opened at $ 29 on the NASDAQ and jumped as much as 50 percent to a high of $ 31.60 in early trading. At the opening price of the stock, Dropbox has a market valuation of $ 12 billion, well above the $ 10 billion valuation that was in its last private funding round.
Business model
Dropbox uses a freemium business model, where users are offered free accounts with a set storage size, with paid subscriptions available that offer more capacity and additional features.
Basic Dropbox users are given 2 gigabytes of free storage space. This can be expanded through referrals; users recommend this service to others, and if people start using the service, users get an additional 500 megabytes of storage space. Dropbox Basic users can earn up to 16 gigabytes through a referral program.
Dropbox Plus subscriptions (named Dropbox Pro before March 2017) give users 1 terabyte storage space, as well as additional features, including:
- Advanced sharing controls: When sharing links to files or folders, users can assign passwords and expiration limits.
- Remote wipe: If the device is stolen or lost, the user can remotely wipe the Dropbox folder on the device next time online.
- "Extended Version History": The available plug-in keeps Dropbox erased and the previous file version for one year, a significant 30-day restoration period.
In November 2013, Dropbox announced a change to "Dropbox for Business" that would allow users to connect their personal Dropbox and Dropbox their business to the same device, with each folder "properly labeled for personal or work, and coming up with a word password, contacts, settings, and files ". Furthermore, Dropbox announces mutual audit logs, remote wipes for business administrators, and account transfers, as new features of its Business offerings. In January 2017, Dropbox introduced "Smart Sync" for Business and Corporate customers, a feature that allows Windows and macOS users to view all files in the Dropbox folder, but only download certain files on demand.
Similarly for Dropbox Basic, Dropbox Plus users can also earn extra space through referrals. Pro users get 1 gigabyte per reference, up to 32 gigabytes.
Dropbox Business is Dropbox solutions for companies, adding more business-centered functionality to teams, including powerful collaboration, security and control tools, unlimited file recovery, user management and detailed permissions, and unlimited storage options. For large organizations, Dropbox offers Dropbox Enterprise, "the highest level" of its product offerings, adding domain management tools, Dropbox customer support members assigned, and assistance from "expert advisors" on user deployment and training.
In July 2016, Dropbox announced a new administrators "AdminX" dashboard for Business customers, which offered improved control over file and enterprise users. As of June 2017, the AdminX dashboard is redesigned and additional administrator functions, such as log-in duration, custom password strength parameters, and more detailed subdomain verification for specific teams.
Company partnership
In 2013, Samsung pre-loads the Dropbox mobile app on its Android device and Dropbox provides additional space for users with Samsung devices. In September 2012, Facebook and Dropbox are integrated to allow users in Facebook Groups to share files using Dropbox. In November 2014, Dropbox announced a partnership with Microsoft to integrate Dropbox and Microsoft Office applications on iOS, Android, and Office 365 apps on the web.
Technology
The Dropbox software allows users to drop any file into the specified folder. The file is then automatically uploaded to Dropbox's cloud-based service and is available for computers and other user devices that have also installed Dropbox software, keeping the files up-to-date on all systems. When a file in the user's Dropbox folder is changed, Dropbox uploads only the parts of the changed file, if possible.
When a file or folder is deleted, the user can restore it within 30 days. For Dropbox Plus users, this recovery time can be extended up to one year, by purchasing the "Extended Version History" add-on.
Dropbox accounts that are not accessed or emails not answered within a year are automatically deleted.
Dropbox also offers a LAN synchronization feature, where, instead of receiving information and data from Dropbox servers, computers on the local network can exchange files directly between each other, potentially increasing synchronization speed significantly.
Initially, Dropbox servers and computer applications were written in Python. In July 2014, Dropbox began migrating its backend infrastructure to Go.
In September 2012, the Dropbox site code base was rewritten from JavaScript to CoffeeScript.
Dropbox originally used Amazon S3 storage system to store user files, but between 2014 and 2016 they gradually moved from Amazon to use their own hardware, called the "Magic Pocket", because Dropbox's description as "the place where you keep all things, it does not get lost, and you can always access it ". In June 2017, the company announced the expansion of a large global network, aimed at increasing the speed of synchronization while cutting costs. The expansion, starting with 14 cities in 7 countries on 3 continents, adds "hundreds of gigabit Internet connectivity with transit providers (regional and global ISPs), and hundreds of new peering partners (where we exchange traffic directly rather than via ISPs)".
Dropbox uses SSL transfers for syncing and saving data via Advanced Encryption (AES) encryption -256 encryption.
Dropbox functionality can be integrated into third-party applications through the application programming interface (API).
Dropbox prevents the sharing of copyrighted data, by checking the shared hash of files in public folders or between blacklisted users of copyrighted material. This only applies to files or folders that are shared with other users or publicly, and not to files stored in individual Dropbox folders that are not shared.
Mailbox
In March 2013, Dropbox acquired Mailbox, a popular email application, with CEO Mailbox Gentry Underwood saying that "Instead of developing our own Mailbox, we decided to combine the power with Dropbox and build it together". Under the deal, Mailbox developers join Dropbox, but keep Mailbox running as stand-alone apps. Mailbox CEO stated: "We are still struggling to meet the demands of those who want to use it", and Dropbox CEO Drew Houston said "We feel we can help Mailbox reach a much more different audience much faster." The acquisition reportedly cost $ 100 million.
In December 2015, Dropbox announced the closing of the Mailbox. In a blog post, Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi explained that "We will [...] use what we've learned from Mailbox to build new ways to communicate and collaborate on Dropbox".
South Korea
In April 2014, Dropbox introduced Carousel, a photo and video gallery that "combines photos in your Dropbox with photos on your phone, and automatically backs up new ones when you pick them up." Carousel photos by event and date. In December 2015, Dropbox announced the closure of South Korea. In a blog post, Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi explained that "We will take the main feature of Carousel back to the place where your photo lives - in the Dropbox app."
Dropbox Paper
In April 2015, Dropbox launched the Dropbox Notes collaboration listing service in the beta testing phase, prompting speculation that Dropbox plans to release products to compete with Google Docs. TechCrunch notes that Dropbox Notes appears to be a new version of "Project Composer", the previous iteration of the service with the roots of the Hackpad acquisition in April 2014. In October 2015, Dropbox announced the upcoming release of Dropbox Paper, its collaborative document, noted by the media as a result of the development of the Dropbox Notes service in early 2015. Dropbox Paper entered the beta opening in August 2016, allowing anyone to join and test the product. Mobile apps for Android and iOS are also released. In January 2017, Dropbox Paper was officially launched. Aimed at businesses, Dropbox Paper is described as "one part online document, one part collaboration, one piece of task management tool, one piece of content hub" by Rob Baesman, head of Dropbox products, and allows to import, edit and collaborate on " other files from Google, Microsoft, and others. "
User-generated project
Users have compiled a number of uses for and mashups of technologies that extend the Dropbox functionality. This includes: sending files to Dropbox via Gmail; using Dropbox to sync instant messaging chats; BitTorrent Management; password management; remote application launch and system monitoring; and as a free web hosting service.
Reception
Dropbox has received several awards, including the 2010 Crunchie Award for Best Internet Applications, and the Macworld ' s 2009 Editor's Choice Award for Software.
It was nominated for the 2010 Webby Award, and for the Mac Design Award 2010 by Ars Technica.
In 2011, Business Insider named Dropbox the sixth most valuable startup in the world, and in 2017, the publication put Dropbox as the eighth most valuable US startup, with a $ 10 billion valuation. It has been described as one of the most successful Y Combinator investments to date.
The Dropbox mobile iPhone app release in 2010 was one of the top 10 "best apps" selected by Alex Ahlund, the former CEO of two mobile-focused websites, and the company's Android app was also selected as one of the top five "best apps "best on the list that was compiled in 2010 by Jason Hiner for ZDNet .
Founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi were crowned as the top 30 under 30 entrepreneurs by Inc. in 2011.
In January 2012, Dropbox was crowned this year's startup by TechCrunch , and by 2016, the company is ranked # 2 on the Forbes Cloud 100 list.
Privacy and security issues
Dropbox has been the subject of criticism and controversy related to several incidents, including the June 2011 authentication issue that allowed accounts accessed for several hours without a password, a July Privacy Policy update in the language that Dropbox has ownership of user data, concerns about Dropbox Employee access to information users, email spam July 2012 with a recurrence in February 2013, leaked government documents in June 2013 with information that Dropbox was considered for inclusion in PRISM's National Security Agency surveillance program, comments July 2014 from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden criticizes Dropbox encryption, leaked 68 million word accounts password on the Internet in August 2016, and incident data recovery accident January 2017 where files that should be deleted on user accounts should have been deleted long ago.
Office
Dropbox Headquarters, located in San Francisco, originally on Market Street, until its expansion into the China Basin Landings building in July 2011, allows significant space increase. As the number of employees increased, the company again required expansion, and in February 2014, the company signed a lease for two buildings on Brannan Street. Because it does not require substantial space, the company begins to purchase the remaining space available to other companies for lease in November 2015.
Dropbox expanded to a second US office in Austin, Texas in February 2014. The states of Texas and the City of Austin provide a $ 1.7 million performance-based incentive package to Dropbox in exchange for their office in Austin.
In December 2012, Dropbox set up an office in Dublin, Ireland, its first office outside the United States.
See also
- Comparison of file hosting services
- Comparison of file sync software
- Comparison of the online backup service
References
External links
- Dropbox - the official site
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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