
Mailbox Is Joining Dropbox - samps
http://www.mailboxapp.com/reservations/?p=1#to-grow-even-faster-mailbox-is-joining-dropbox
======
tomschlick
GOD DAMNIT NOT AGAIN!

I really do hope that they progress on the path they started instead of just
acquiring mailbox for the talent. I know they said that they would but thats
what we heard about Sparrow when they were bought by Google and the results
sucked.

Good luck to everyone on the mailbox team, I love your product, please don't
kill it.

~~~
jamiequint
Did you not RTFA?

> " To be clear, Mailbox is not going away. The product needs to grow fast,
> and we believe that joining Dropbox is the best way to make that happen.
> Plus, imagine what cool things you could do if your Mailbox was connected to
> your Dropbox…"

~~~
teej
To be frank, it's really hard to believe that. They're being acquired, it
isn't up to them anymore what happens to Mailbox. They signed the keys away to
Drew Houston and the management team at Dropbox. Mailbox dies the moment Drew
decides to kill it.

~~~
dhouston
it's not going anywhere :)

(actually, come work on it: <https://www.dropbox.com/jobs> :))

~~~
edw519
Slight aside...

Every time someone here responds when their name is mentioned, I think of this
scene from "Annie Hall":

Alvy Singer: [the man behind him in line is talking loudly] What I wouldn't
give for a large sock with horse manure in it!

Alvy Singer: [to audience] Whaddya do when you get stuck in a movie line with
a guy like this behind you?

Man in Theatre Line: Wait a minute, why can't I give my opinion? It's a free
country!

Alvy Singer: He can give it... do you have to give it so loud? I mean, aren't
you ashamed to pontificate like that? And the funny part of it is, Marshall
McLuhan, you don't know anything about Marshall McLuhan!

Man in Theatre Line: Oh, really? Well, it just so happens I teach a class at
Columbia called "TV, Media and Culture." So I think my insights into Mr.
McLuhan, well, have a great deal of validity!

Alvy Singer: Oh, do ya? Well, that's funny, because I happen to have Mr.
McLuhan right here, so, so, yeah, just let me...

[pulls McLuhan out from behind a nearby poster]

Alvy Singer: come over here for a second... tell him!

Marshall McLuhan: I heard what you were saying! You know nothing of my work!
You mean my whole fallacy is wrong. How you got to teach a course in anything
is totally amazing!

Alvy Singer: Boy, if life were only like this!

(Sometimes it is here at Hacker News.)

~~~
recuter
Might as well share a link to the clip:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpIYz8tfGjY?t=1m44s>

By the way, I'm Woody Allen.

~~~
kanzure
> watch?v=OpIYz8tfGjY?t=1m44s

Hmm, I don't think that feature works like that. Try
watch?v=OpIYz8tfGjY#t=1m44s

~~~
recuter
Right you are. Weird, '?t=' is straight from the share tab on the YouTube
page.

~~~
bithive123
You can use # or & but not ? because that denotes the start of the query
string.

~~~
recuter
I'm aware, I copy pasted the link from YouTube without looking at it. Probably
a bug.

------
goronbjorn
Beyond all of the complicated integration/feature scenarios people are
proposing, what shouldn't be forgotten is the fact that _email is the primary
way most people send and receive files_. Combine that with mobile fast
becoming the primary computing device for most people, and you have an
extremely sensible acquisition.

~~~
kunle
Well said. Pretty easy way for all files you receive to immediately be in your
Dropbox, and for Dropbox to either

a. launch an email service that runs off the space in your dropbox, or b.
automatically create dropbox folders shared between all recipients of an
attachment and automatically set permissions.

~~~
rhizome
Step 0: get all of these people to use Dropbox as their email client

~~~
Goopplesoft
I', #538,902 on this waiting list so its working.

------
damoncali
Wait. Did we just see a company who still has a waiting list get acquired?
Well done.

~~~
aroman
Yeah I signed on at about 900k in front of me in the queue... now that company
has been acquired and I've STILL got 180k people in front of me.

Good lord.

~~~
sbarre
Haha I was thinking the same thing.. I had 700k when I got in line, still have
375k ahead..

Hopefully the acquisition by Dropbox speeds up the line, maybe?

~~~
rscale
I had to wait about a week to use it.

I used it once, realized it turns my inbox into a todo app, and uninstalled
it.

~~~
sbarre
Argh, I hope I'm not waiting in line for the same experience.. :-)

I'm still curious to see if I like it (I am an inbox-zero person), so I'll
stick it out.. But yeah, I've been in line for 3 weeks now or so, I think...

------
bluthru
I love the promise of the internet. Nimble upstarts competing on a level
playing field with huge corporations. A decentralized market without physical
agency. More owners and more competition.

Then I read about stuff like this.

~~~
mintplant
Well, Dropbox itself is competing "on a level playing field with huge
corporations". See: competition from Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Microsoft
SkyDrive, and so on. All companies with comparatively _huge_ amounts of
resources.

~~~
FuzzyDunlop
After that forum post where the user claimed Dropbox had leaked their email to
spammers, I have severe reservations about giving them the actual credentials
to my email account, whether or not the allegations were correct.

------
gilrain
A possible first step towards matching the broad ecosystem of their new chief
competitors, Google Drive and Microsoft Skydrive. I wouldn't be at all
surprised to see them acquire an office app suite next.

~~~
ishansharma
Are there any viable competitors to Google Docs err Drive and MS Office?
Office is the feature powerhouse and Drive is lean and fast service, I haven't
seen anything that can be acquired around!

~~~
jmduke
I don't find Drive to be particularly lean/fast -- it's been easier for me and
my peers to work on content/formatting on Word than email it; Drive's lack of
features is certainly not a proxy for being lightweight.

Drive's killer feature, though, is collaboration.

------
benaiah
"This means not only continuing to scale the service, but also including
support for more email providers and mobile devices."

Please, _please_ let this mean that they plan on supporting EAS. Migrating to
Google Apps for Business in not an option for me, and everyone and his brother
is building fancy IMAP-only email clients, while I'm stuck with the default
mail client on my iPhone. I love Mailbox's interface, but I barely get a
chance to use it, as my primary email address that 99% of my email goes
through is on Outlook.com-hosted email.

~~~
X-Istence
The biggest problem with Exchange Active Sync is that to implement it you have
to pay a licensing fee to Microsoft. For a lot of smaller developers that
simply isn't an option, especially for something they are giving away for free
or for a very low price.

Also, EAS is proprietary, whereas IMAP is open. Outlook.com should simply add
IMAP support.

~~~
mattl
Check out Davmail -- <http://davmail.sourceforge.net/> \-- turns Exchange into
standards.

~~~
gislifb
Second that, although I never got anything but the mail to work (no contacts,
cal, tasks) and since evolution is a piece of crap (at least the version that
comes with FC 18) I had to use thunderbird which doesn't have cal. But it's
still worth it!

------
ishansharma
For everyone thinking Mailbox is getting Sparrowfied, there's good news:

 _To be clear, Mailbox is not going away. The product needs to grow fast, and
we believe that joining Dropbox is the best way to make that happen. Plus,
imagine what cool things you could do if your Mailbox was connected to your
Dropbox._

I'm so glad that Mailbox is going to stay alive. It has been just one month
since I removed Sparrow and started using Mailbox mostly.

~~~
dopamean
Was not the same thing said about Sparrow?

~~~
Kudos
No, Google said Sparrow would remain available but not be updated.

------
_pius
This is a _very_ clever move by Dropbox.

~~~
PanMan
why? do you see huge overlap between file syncing/storage and mobile email?

~~~
_pius
If you look at their foray into photos and the way they talk about their
service now, Dropbox is becoming a lifestyle brand focused on your personal
data.

Meanwhile, the mobile e-mail client that the Mailbox team built is so cool
that it convinced about a million people to let Mailbox store a full copy of
their e-mail archive ... in 10 weeks.

That kind of strategic value means it's smart for them to swoop the product
and team up RIGHT NOW, even if they had to pay a premium to do it.

------
dguido
I feel like any communications app, especially e-mail related, that's trying
to label itself as "modern" needs to include some support for crypto as a
requirement. I hope the Dropbox people push for things like that from Mailbox,
given their past security problems.

------
jmedwards
> Not sure if the acquisition makes strategic sense for Dropbox

I do - Dropbox isn't and doesn't want to be just a dumb, syncable file store.
First your photos, now your email.

------
weeklyplaycheck
It's hilariously easy to skip the line and gain access to the "velvet room" as
it is described in this application's plist file. You can even do this
entirely on a non-jailbroken device. Tokenless system based entirely on local
authentication.

~~~
weeklyplaycheck
Checkout the preferences plist under the application folder on your local
device.

------
defrndr
I hope this means that an Android app will be released too. Not that the gmail
app is bad.

------
admiralpumpkin
I'm glad it's not Google, Apple or Microsoft.

Here's to a stronger Dropbox and a long-life for Mailbox!

------
niggler
"The product needs to grow fast, and we believe that joining Dropbox is the
best way to make that happen. "

Why not do a funding round?

~~~
joncooper
As opposed to a funding round, this approach is advantageous:

Financially --

\- Cash out the existing (presumably closely-held) equity holders with 100% of
deal proceeds.

"Existentially" --

Reduce execution risk by getting the team access to:

\- Existing battle-tested deployment infrastructure (& devops)

\- Existing pool of engineers that can be assigned to the project, and who are
familiar with the infrastructure

\- HR, facilities, logistics, support, etc...

------
nXqd
Regardless the reasons they sell themselves. But I still think it's a good
idea to join Dropbox since they are really open and they love to create good
product instead of trying to get money.

I hope mailbox having the right place to continue growing as a good product.

Furthermore: I love the current startup markets, so many awesome products. But
still there are bunch of craps which have new and fancy interfaces but nothing
inside. Rather joining the big and create big thing together :)

------
cpursley
So... Google got Sparrow, Dropbox got Mailbox...

Now that leaves Apple and MS...

I have one hell of a startup app idea. Anybody out there good with
objective-c?

~~~
mkr-hn
I don't think Microsoft needs help making a mail application.

~~~
cpursley
Maybe not. Their WP8 mail app is quite nice.

------
kevingibbon
Congrats Gentry and team!! If you'd like Gmail + Dropbox attachment management
now, just use Attachments.me iPhone app
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/attachments.me-for-gmail-
ema...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/attachments.me-for-gmail-
email/id446390783?mt=8)

------
dilipray
Google killed sparrow because Gmail is better than sparrow Google din't kill
YouTube because YouTube is better than Google videos. Facebook dint kill
instagram.

So,I think Dropbox has just acquire mailbox not for killing it but to enter a
different domain.

------
vtail
Not sure if the acquisition makes strategic sense for Dropbox, but at least I
have some confidence that Mailbox wouldn't simply disappear: Dropbox core
product has a freemium model, and they are very successful company.

~~~
defrndr
It makes sense if they want to compete with Gmail by integrating dropbox and
mailbox; providing an alternative to Google Drive.

------
nicholassmith
Getting a monopoly on the 'box'. Actually, I'd say a startup being acquired by
a small company like Dropbox is a better outcome than a startup being consumed
into the monolithic companies like Apple or Google.

------
fotoblur
Mailbox, the app I've yet to use gets acquired.

How can an app like Mailbox make you mad? Here is how: I'm still waiting in
the queue for over a month now to even try the app. Scarcity is the mental
mind hack used to increase demand
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini>)...but for me personally its
backfired. If Dropbox's resources can help here, I'm all for it. Good luck.

Also, a note to mailbox web designer, try adding more contrast to your text so
I can actually read it.

------
k-mcgrady
Acquired before I've even got my invite! :) Still another 276,000 people in
front of me. I really hope Dropbox keeps it around (and from the comments that
seems to be the case).

------
27182818284
Android fans take note of how their app is iPhone only at the moment. This is
important. In every flamewar people argue that Android is the same essentially
as iPhone or better, but there are two HUGE gaps

1\. iOS gets new apps faster. In this case, Mailbox is iOS 2\. Accessories are
harder to find for the large gamut of Android-running devices.

(being an Android fan, I have a self-interest in getting companies to release
Android apps faster than they currently do)

------
josephjrobison
This is perfect, otherwise I would have to wait in line for another three
months to get the app. I don't care who owns it if I can't even use the app.

------
meerita
I use Mailbox. I like it to do the normal, read/archive thingy fast. But for
serious mailing, Sparrow still wins. Aside this, it was clearly normal to see
them acquired by other grande company.

Mailbox was free. No business model. Their own business model surely was
acquisition. Did you thought they were last to the point of an IPO or charging
for their service? Me not.

------
tokyonoise
For those who are interested in an alternative service check out Right Inbox.
Lets you schedule emails in Gmail, allows tracking emails and setting
reminders. <http://www.rightinbox.com/>

------
hawkharris
I just read over the features offered by Mailbox, and I don't see anything
that I'm not already getting from using Gmail with the Boomerang plugin. Can
anyone who is using Mailbox explain its unique benefits?

~~~
hawkharris
I was genuinely asking for someone in the community to explain what makes the
app unique. I wish that whoever down voted this would have explained his
reasoning.

------
Wonderdonkey
Am I the only one who thinks Dropbox isn't very good? I only seem to see
positive comments, and that just doesn't make sense to me.

I'm a premium Dropbox user with multiple terabytes of storage. (We deal with
large files that have to be shared among many users widely dispersed.) I've
been using it for a while now. When dealing with large files, it's slow,
clunky, and restrictive. You have to use the desktop client to upload files of
any appreciable size, and then you get zero feedback on the file's progress. I
just don't see how $3,500 a year for that is better than the cost of an old-
school FTP server.

I'm curious if any of you are in a similar situation but have had a better
experience.

~~~
almost
It's not good for your use case apparently. Your use case isn't the same as
most people's use case. Simple :)

~~~
Wonderdonkey
Yeah, I was just kind of curious to hear what other premium users were
experiencing. I assume anyone who goes premium has a need like mine. Oh well.
Lesson learned: Don't talk smack about a Y Combinator company on Y Combinator.
The proprietors have a magical downvote button.

------
teyc
How can this ever be a good fit? MailBoxApp is a radical take on email while
DropBox is gunning for the main stream.

------
avaku
Off topic: messages "from the team" on the mailbox website looks like a pre-
orchestrated marketing campaign :)

------
soemarko
So, do I get to jump the queue now?

------
revelation
Acquihire? Not acquihire? Can't decide, this blog post is decidedly too party
spirited.

~~~
cleverjake
not acquirehire. pretty clear

>>To be clear, Mailbox is not going away. The product needs to grow fast, and
we believe that joining Dropbox is the best way to make that happen. Plus,
imagine what cool things you could do if your Mailbox was connected to your
Dropbox.

------
jonpaul
What's going to happen to Orchestra? (The same company is behind Mailbox)

------
jamin
Cloud storage provider wants to do more than cloud storage. WARNING.

------
changdizzle
what's going to happen to orchestra? i actually use it all the time, almost as
much as mailbox -- is this going over to dropbox or will it be _gasp_
deadpooled?

------
arrowgunz
Congratulations guys!

------
vicky_rockstar
Great news...

------
baby
How was Mailbox profitable?

~~~
yesimahuman
Since when did that matter? ;)

~~~
baby
I was just wondering. They have a well made product, nice website, but the app
is free.

I can see how it would be a good thing between Dropbox's legs but how could it
be profitable on its own?

------
so898
They sell themselves really quick.

------
abraininavat
Sometimes I wish companies would just focus on what they do well instead of
trying to expand forever, wedging themselves into every niche of your life and
watering down the utility of their offerings.

