Dropbox and Mailbox get married. Congrats!
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What is the first thing I see this morning. Dropbox bought Mailbox. I'm a big fan of both services. With Apple fanboy-esque pride I say I was one of the first in the Mailbox waiting list (and users) and I've been a Pro user of Dropbox for over a year now. I didn't see this marriage coming but this is why I think dropbox made a great move.
Dropbox and Mailbox have similar visions.
From a product standpoint, Dropbox has been focussing on design and usability from the start., and so has Mailbox. This is from their blogpost:
Dropbox doesn’t replace your folders or your hard drive: it makes them better. The same is true with Mailbox. It doesn’t replace your email: it makes it better. Whether it’s your Dropbox or your Mailbox, we want to find ways to simplify your life.
We’re all looking forward to making Mailbox even better and getting it into as many people’s hands as possible. There’s so much to do and we’re excited to get started!
And it's true. In similar ways the services use an easy user experience to integrate themselves into their users life. Mailbox is even more audacious and is prescribing users with a new way of interacting with their mail. A way that feels so much more natural.
Great timing on the acquisition
As of today Mailbox still has over 500,000 users in waiting line. Those are 500,000 users PRE Dropbox Mailbox integration. 500,000 potential fresh introductions to Dropbox. (sure there will be some overlap.)
And in the big scheme of things. With dropbox being valued at 4 Billion, what's 30-50 Million to them anyway? <3% equity, and Mailbox will definitely have more impact than their purchasing price. (Thanks for pointing that out Mark!)
Time will tell.
I'm excited to see 2 companies that are actively pushing user interaction design forward come together. They have both kept the customer experience at the centre of their business model trying to disrupt two stale and monolithic markets.
Congrats, now show us the good stuff!
