Steve Ballmer: With 100M Users, Dropbox is a 'Little Startup'

[zakislam]

Software giant's SkyDrive boasts over double the amount of users.

Steve Ballmer: With 100M Users, Dropbox is a 'Little Startup' : Read more

 

[jimmyjohnz]

So by logic of Ballmer's previous comments, Dropbox will be dominating the field of cloud storage in the next few years.

 

[mouse24]

I don't see how one little comment is enough to make it into an article.

 

[Guest]

The last paragraph sums it all up. This guy has no idea what he's talking about.

 

[matthelm]

And how many users does Windows 8 have? ;-)

 

[ddpruitt]

Except that Ballmer leaves out an important fact:

If your a live user, your being counted as a Skydrive user whether you like it or not!

No wonder MS is crashing....

 

[cscott_it]

Typical spin story - after reading the interview it seems like any CEO propping up his own product while acknowledging the competition. Maybe I'm a little ambivalent to this type of stuff - but do you think CISCO, SAP, IBM, etc. would say something different if asked about a similar positioned company to their business?

 

[Parsian]

MSFT needs to fire this idiot. He is destroying the company.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Did the protective fat in his brain descend into his body ?

 

[john15v16]

Steve Ballmer = freakin idiot

 

[olaf]

And out of those 200mil how many actually use Skydrive ? i have 3 skydrive enabled accounts and i use exactly 0 out of that .... i do how ever use Dropbox...

 

[Vorador2]

The mistery of the millenium: why Ballmer hasn't been fired yet.

 

[namecnassianer]

do you think CISCO, SAP, IBM, etc. would say something different if asked about a similar positioned company to their business?

Yes, I do. IBM has or had a strict policy against disparaging the competition.

It's known as class, a word which does not appear to be in Mr. Ballmer's dictionary.

 

[Pinhedd]

[citation][nom]jimmyjohnz[/nom]So by logic of Ballmer's previous comments, Dropbox will be dominating the field of cloud storage in the next few years.[/citation]

Dominating a market, and being the most profitable entity in a market are two different things. Dropbox is awesome but they're currently burning through investor capital without taking in a ton of revenue. They're going to be in a tough spot if they aren't financially stable when the VCs want to pull out. Other more established companies have also taken notice of Dropbox's success and created product plans that are either more affordable than Dropbox, or more varied than Dropbox.

Their marketing team has some serious work to do if they don't want to get pushed out of the market that they helped create.

 

[izmanq]

ms office heh ? i use libre office it's free

 

[ingtar33]

i don't know... for me Dropbox has been a revelation. It has single-handled changed how i run my office computers, do my IT job, and in general it integrates every device I've got seamlessly.

Till i see another cloud storage solution as simple, unobtrusive and error free Dropbox will be the only cloud solution for me. I used to use Skydrive... i don't anymore.

 

[warezme]

can we get some new pics in these posts? There gettin real looong oooon tthhheee toooooooth.

 

[blader15sk8]

Registered users != Active users. I am sure more people actually use Dropbox, and for people that use both, probably use Dropbox more often.

 

[AndreT]

"Well, you've got to remember, 100 million sounds like a pretty small number to me, actually,"

And just how many Windows 8 users are we at now Mr. Ballmer? Not licenses shipped and sitting on a shelf but actual users.

100 million sounds like a pretty big number now doesn't it?

 

[wemakeourfuture]

How many iOS or Android users are there compared to Windows Mobile OSs?
hmm... Mr. Ballmer you're not even a startup by your definition when it comes to mobile devices.

 

[SneakySnake]

Maybe I'll be horribly wrong, but it seems to me that in few years dropbox won't be relevant. (I currently use dropbox everyday and love it)

Back when apple was creating iCloud they offered dropbox a very large amount of money to be a significant part of the new service (I think it was around a billion $ offered?). Dropbox refused, which I respect, they want to pave their own way in the world, which they already have done to a certain extent.

However, since they started up pretty much everyone offers cloud storage natively. MS has Skydrive, Apple has iCloud, Google has Google Drive, etc. In the future I can't see to many people bothering to install dropbox when their device already has native support for a different cloud storage system.

I think dropbox does things the best currently, but it's potential customers are becoming narrower everyday. Mega just started up and his offering 50 GB for free. I've worked on my dropbox account for years (free version) and have grown it from 2 GB to 22.4 GB currently.

tl;dr: dropbox is a great service, but with every major company offering native cloud storage now, I can't see dropbox having nearly as many customers in the future, even if they do offer some of the best features.

 

[NuclearShadow]

I wish I could be around Ballmer all the time. Not because I like the guy but rather I would start a drinking game. Anytime he says something stupid you take a swig. Guaranteed to get hammered everytime.

 

[lradunovic77]

This guy has to GTFO Microsoft...clearly have no clue about anything.

 

[house70]

Why is this guy still employed at MS?

 

[diddo]

[citation][nom]SneakySnake[/nom]dropbox is a great service, but with every major company offering native cloud storage now, I can't see dropbox having nearly as many customers in the future, even if they do offer some of the best features.[/citation]
It may turn out to be an advantage as soon as users start figuring out 80% of development of major companies is about improving walls in the garden and don't let you files, contact, mails etc to flawlessly flow from you android phone, your ipad and your winpc.
Once upon a time there were proprietary file formats lockin, now the game is pwning users data, not helping them to jump fences with competitors.
imho, if well played, dropbox neutrality may be something to use profitably with some segments of users.