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Topic: Cloud

Dropbox has over 100 million users and counting

Summary: With 100 million users now, is Dropbox the force to be reckoned with in personal cloud storage?

Rachel King

By for Between the Lines |

While tech titans such as Apple, Google and Microsoft (among others) continue to clamor over the personal cloud storage space, Dropbox remains an incredibly strong competitor as it now retains more than 100 million users.

The San Francisco-based company's co-founder and CEO, Drew Houston, confirmed the news in an interview with The New York Times, attributing this level of growth to a mixed user base of both consumers and small businesses.

For reference, Dropbox was founded in 2007.

In a blog post on the official Dropbox blog on Monday, Houston added some colorful use cases:

Among these is Coach Stringfellow in Utah. High school football’s a big deal — while there are the lights, crowds, and cheerleaders, less visible are the sweat and tears needed to build a great team. Coach Stringfellow and his players use Dropbox to study game films and scouting reports on their own terms. And because Dropbox keeps everyone connected, the Bountiful Braves have the edge they need to play stronger and smarter.

But Coach isn’t alone. There’s an uncle in Quebec who uses Dropbox to stitch together his family’s history, and a 4th grade class in Oregon that makes music in Dropbox with other students around the world.

Looking forward, Dropbox is evidently looking to expand its user base even further internationally with pending added support for Italian and European Spanish.

As an added incentive to get more people onboard, Dropbox is launching a contest to get more use cases for its advertising campaigns. The top 100 picks according to Dropbox will get 10GB of free cloud storage space for life. If it is in the top 10, that allotment will be bumped up to 100GB.

Dropbox already offers 2GB of storage space to individual users for free. However, other cloud storage services such as Box and Google Drive start new users off with 5GB of free space.

Topics: Cloud, Enterprise Software, Software, Storage, Social Enterprise

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7 comments
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  • It Works

    Allows upload of large files (>100MB - take note Box.net); great desktop drag and drop functionality; simple, easy to use Android app interface. Free storage up to 16GB through referrals. I love Dropbox.
    Gussy2000
    Reply Vote

  • Anyone has earned enough referrals to reach 5GB?

    The amount of tasks you need to fulfill to earn the Dropbox referral storage is unreasonable. Dropbox tech support even denied my tech support request b/c I created two Dropbox accounts from the same computer (1 for me 1 for my wife).

    There are plenty of cloud storage providers who gave at least 5GB right away: Box.net, Ubuntu One, Google Drive, Sky drive, etc. And even better: MegaCloud: 8GB + 8GB automatic backup.

    For those who use Dropbox, I'd like to know the time you spent to earn your referrals to reach 5GB.
    RelaxWalk
    Reply Vote

    • 7.2GB

      I have referrals that have me up to 7.2GB.
      vbgrace@...
      Reply Vote

  • Cloud storage is critical these days..

    Cloud storage is pretty much what any business wants when systems or storage fail – a quick and easy way back to being online and conducting business as usual.

    Traditional disaster recovery solutions that back up to a secondary data center carry significant infrastructure and management costs, something that many businesses, especially small to mid-sized business, cannot afford. Thus, with cloud storage they get a reduction in costs, including the removal of up-front capital expenditures and a reduction in operating costs by 20 to 50 percent; a predictable, subscription-based pricing model with no hidden or data transfer fees; and a faster route to business value.

    So in case of a disaster, 'cloud storage solution' doesn't just bring your data back -- but it brings your business back.
    Tech Market
    Reply 1 Vote

    • And not just cloud storage.

      And not just cloud storage - since Dropbox is also a sync service, you can even access your files offline, an advantage over cloud-only solutions.

      It's far more than a merely cloud storage. It's your data anywhere, anytime - even offline.
      CobraA1
      Reply 1 Vote

  • Hosting UK sensitive documents in Dropbox

    I have been told that one cannot lodge sensitive UK company documents such as account specific documents in Dropbox as the hosted servers are not in the UK. Is this true and what UK legislation prohibits this.
    jloliveira
    Reply Vote

  • Relax Walk.........

    ........to run two separate dropbox accounts on the same computer, you need two user accounts on the machine.....both accounts can be logged in and active.
    roger andre
    Reply Vote
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