- In 2012, Dropbox earned the\n\u2018Best Overall Startup\u2019<\/strong> award at the, now defunct, Crunchies awards.<\/li>
- 1.2 billion <\/strong>files are saved on Dropbox every day.<\/li>
- Dropbox users have\nestablished well over 3.3 <\/strong>billion connections.<\/li>
- There are 100,000 <\/strong>shared\nfolders and links created on Dropbox every hour.<\/li>
- 75%<\/strong> of Dropbox Business teams are using one or more third-party\napplications that are linked to Dropbox.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
Usage Statistics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Dropbox is a\nvery popular productivity application. How popular you ask? Let\u2019s find out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Dropbox\u2019s\ncreation was due to founder Drew Houston\u2019s forgetfulness: <\/strong>Like everyone who has to operate multiple computers, Drew Houston\nhad the bad habit of forgetting his USB drives at important times. After a\nparticularly bad case of data loss, wherein one of his hard drives, for which\nhe had no backup, crashed, Drew had had enough. He created his own personal\nserver and wrote a program that would allow him to access the server and its\ndata from any location. He realized the program\u2019s usefulness and released the\napplication under the name Dropbox to his fellow MIT students. After seeing the\nrapid success of the idea, he decided to scale up the program and release it as\ncommercial software. With the aid of Arash Ferdowsi, he founded Dropbox Inc.,\nand both of them managed to secure seed funding of $1.2 million. The rest is\nhistory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. More than\n9 million businesses trust Dropbox to share their data: <\/strong>It isn\u2019t just individuals that utilize Dropbox to save their data on\nthe cloud. Due to the growing prevalence of a decentralized workspace and the\nrising adoption of IoT devices, a lot of businesses are looking to move their\ndata to the cloud. Dropbox has become one of the go-to applications for the\nsame. As of 2017, nearly 9 million businesses were using Dropbox\u2019s application\nfor storing data and collaborating within their structure. This number is\nexpected to rise sharply with Dropbox introducing a slew of business-oriented\nfeatures alongside a new encryption algorithm. Seeing as security concerns are\nthe main reason corporations don’t opt for cloud storage, the new encryption\nalgorithm is rue to bring in corporations that are still on the fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. 92% of the\nFortune 500 companies use Dropbox: <\/strong>The Fortune 500\ncompanies are the group of companies that set the standard for most other\ncompanies. These companies are mainly focused on efficiency and productivity.\nFor this purpose, as many as 92% of these companies use Dropbox for sharing files\nand tasks easily. 56% of the Fortune 500 companies use the paid version that is\nmade for business exclusively. This sets a precedent for the entire corporate\nworld, and as a result, Dropbox is growing rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Dropbox is\navailable in over 180 countries and supports over 20 languages: <\/strong>Dropbox\u2019s popularity has increased a lot since its inception. As of\n2018, according to Dropbox\u2019s publicly released documents, it was available in\nover 180 countries, with live support available for nearly 130 of them. These\ncountries, obviously, span a huge and diverse portion of the world. To allow\nfor this, Dropbox is available in 20 languages, allowing for a large variation\nof its userbase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. The\nDropbox Android App has been downloaded well over 500 million: <\/strong>As we have seen, Dropbox\u2019s main appeal comes from the fact that it\nallows people to keep access to all their files across all their devices.\nConsidering the fact that Android OS is the most used smartphone OS, it is no\nsurprise that a lot of Android users want their Dropbox account on their\nandroid phones. This has led to the Dropbox Android application being\ndownloaded more than 500 million times across the world. This puts it firmly in\nthe top 500 applications in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Google\nPlay<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6. Dropbox is\nthe collaboration application of choice for 65% of the Sundance filmmakers: <\/strong>The Sundance film festival is one of the most respected events in\nthe filmmaking world. It provides an amazing platform for independent\nfilmmakers to showcase their works. These filmmakers often work in small teams\nthat work separately from each other and then combine their efforts into a\ncohesive whole. According to a survey conducted at the 2017 Sundance festival,\n65% of the filmmakers stated that they used Dropbox for their collaborative\nneeds. According to them, it provides the perfect platform for the desperate\nteams to share their progress with each other and for the director to monitor\nall progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7. More than\n400 billion pieces of content have been uploaded to Dropbox: <\/strong>Since it was inception in 2007, Dropbox has exploded in popularity.\nIt started off with one single CPU functioning as its server to owning over\n10,000 servers around the world. The rise in the server size has been due to\nthe huge amount of data that its users have generated. According to some\nestimates, as many as 400 billion unique pieces of content have been uploaded\nto Dropbox. This content included text documents, videos, music, photos, and in\nsome cases, the sensitive portfolios of corporations as well. The Dropbox\nserver are known for their reliability despite the large amount of data they\nhandle on a day to day basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
8. 44% of new\nDropbox users were recommended by a friend: <\/strong>When\nDropbox was first introduced, it was meant to be an application for MIT\nstudents to keep all their work in one place. It spread throughout the campus\nmainly via word of mouth and soon became very popular, which led to the founder\nto launch it commercially. Nowadays, Dropbox might be a billion-dollar company,\nbut the way it spreads among new users hasn\u2019t changed at all. According to a\nsurvey of all new users, 44% of the states that they were introduced to the\nservice by a friend recommending it to them to solve their storage issues. The\nnext most common reason for Dropbox\u2019s adoption was due to corporate\nrequirements, with 21% of the new users stating it as the reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
9. Dropbox\nhas 500 million active users:<\/strong> Dropbox has become\none of the most used applications in the world. Going up against technology\ngiants like Microsoft and Google isn\u2019t an enviable position to be in, but\nDropbox manages to do very well. It recently cracked the half a billion users\u2019\nmilestone, with the last 100 million user\u2019s adoption Dropbox in merely three\nmonths. The number of users keeps growing every day, with Dropbox founder and\nCEO Drew Houston stating that Dropbox will manage to achieve 1 billion users by\nthe end of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Financial Statistics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The number and\ndemographics of users don’t always paint an accurate picture of the success of\nan application. So here, we will take a look into the financial side of things\nand try to understand the success of everyone\u2019s favorite collaboration application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10. Dropbox\nis used by more than 13.6 million paying users: <\/strong>The\nbase application for Dropbox is free to use. This free service has a storage\nlimit of 2 GBs and has a very limited range of features when compared to the\npremium service. The premium service is very lucrative to businesses and\nindividuals who need a large amount of cloud storage space for one reason or\nanother. Dropbox has two different premium plans. The popularity of these plans\nis very obvious when one looks at the number of people paying for a premium\nplan. By the end of 2018, there were 11 million users with a paid account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
11. Dropbox\nearned $1.4 billion in revenue in 2018 and is expected to reach $2.4 billion in\n2021: <\/strong>The widescale adoption of Dropboxes\u2019 premium\nservice is reflected in the revenue that the company brings in as well. According\nto the IPO filed by Dropbox in 2017, they earned $1.106 billion in revenue.\nThis was a massive increase from the revenue they earned just two years ago in\n2015, which was $600 million. The company shows a CAGR of 35.43% and is\nexpected to keep increasing its revenue to nearly $2.7 billion in 2021. The\nyear of 2017 also marked Dropbox opening its own servers reducing their\noperating costs by a large amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
12.Dropbox\nsaved nearly $75 million by creating their own data servers: <\/strong>Amazon Web Service is a very useful tool that allows smaller\ncompanies to buy up space in their servers for various purposes. Until 2016,\nDropbox stored all of its data on the AWS service and paid a hefty sum of money\nfor the same. Before their IPO, they deiced to cut costs where they could and\nidentified the rent for the servers as one of the major expenses that could be\ncut. They created their own server architecture, which was optimized for their\napplication, and established more than 10,000 physical servers to store their\nusers\u2019 data. This helped them cut nearly $74.5 million off of their operating\ncosts, driving the price of their IPO up by a huge margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Data\nCenter Knowledge<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Security Risks associated with Dropbox<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Dropbox might seem like the ultimate tool for a business, but that is not the complete truth. Dropbox has a lot of security flaws that might turn some organizations off. Here we will take a look at these security risks, to make sure that you are aware of them before utilizing Dropbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hub.pfind.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/dropbox-Image.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n13. Dropbox\nis the second most blacklisted application in workplaces around the world:<\/strong> Dropbox has made the workplace a more productive place. This\nproductivity boost occurs due to the ease with which co-workers can collaborate\nand share with each other. The UI of Dropbox helps this along by simply\nallowing people to copy and paste their documents into a single folder present\non the computer itself. This lets the users use the application without having\nto switch through multiple windows or needing to log in over and over again.\nHowever, despite all its positive qualities that it brings to the workplace, Dropbox\nis still the most blacklisted application in most workplaces. This is primarily\ndue to the security concerns that it brings along, from lack of administrative\nchecks and controls to the other points that we will explore further in the\narticle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
P.S: The most blacklisted application is\nAngry Birds!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Forbes<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
14. The URLs\ngenerated for sharing documents with Dropbox can be accessed by anyone<\/strong>: The main way to share documents and folders with Dropbox is to\ngenerate a URL and share it. This URL leads an individual directly to the\ndocument being shared. However, once the URL has been generated, the user has\nno control over who views it. Anyone who has the link has full access to the\ndocument or folder being shared. The full access that URLs can give to a potentially\ndamaging individual is a very scary prospect for corporations. Indeed, in a\nstudy conducted by Intralinks, researchers were able to access highly confidential\ncorporate documents by simply gaining access to the URLs that were shared\ninternally. The only protection that Dropbox offers to protect against this is\nmaking URLs password sensitive. However, this is only possible in the highest-paid\nversion of the application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
15.Dropbox\ndoesn\u2019t permanently remove deleted files by default: <\/strong>When we delete a file, we expect it to disappear completely, not be\naccessible to anyone, not even to the person who deleted the file. However,\nthis is not the case with Dropbox. Dropbox does not remove the deleted file\ncompletely by default. It is stored on their serves for 30 days at a minimum,\nand up to one year. This can present a huge security risk for any individual or\ncorporation if a file falls into the wrong hands due to erroneous deletion.\nThis can be remedied by doing to the deleted files section and deleting the\nfile again, which does not occur to most people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surprising Features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Dropbox\u2019s popularity has continuously been\nrising in the past few years. This is mainly because of its primary service\nthat allows people to have access to all their files everywhere they go.\nHowever, another factor that boosts Dropbox\u2019s popularity are the powerful\nfeatures that it offers to people. Here are some of the most helpful tools that\nDropbox offers to its users:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
16.Previewing\nPhotoshop and Illustrator Files without the need for the adobe application: <\/strong>Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are the two major applications that\nare used to create any digital pictures. Unfortunately, they use specific file\nformats in their application, file formats that mostly cannot be opened by most\ncommercial image viewing software. This is a huge problem for Graphic Designers\nas they need to convert the files into JPEG or PNG formats, which depending on\nthe design and techniques being used, can be a very tedious process. However,\nusing Dropbox for submitting designs completely circumnavigates this problem by\nallowing PSD files to be previews like any other file format. This makes it the\npreferred way to share their work with anyone that requires it. It\u2019s a small\nbut powerful tool that makes life easy for a lot of people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
17. Request\nspecific files from anyone in your contacts list: <\/strong>When\nmanaging or collaborating a team, all documents and files must be delivered\nexactly when needed. Dropbox takes this important step and makes it very easy\nto achieve. Its request feature lets users email or message specific\nparticipants of the team to request a file they need. The person who gets the\nrequest gets a simple link that they can follow to upload the desired file.\nThis feature makes sure that there is no loss of files due to miscommunication.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
18. Hold live\ndiscussions about any document without changing applications: <\/strong>Communication is the key to success for any team or organization.\nHowever, all communication applications require a user to switch over from\nwhatever file they are currently working on to a messaging application. While\nholding a discussion about a specific file, this can be very frustrating to do\nover and over again. This frustration can be avoided if the team chooses to\ncollaborate using Dropbox. Using the chat head feature in Dropbox, users can\nhold discussions about any document without ever leaving the window. They can\nalso make live changes to the document that will be reflected on everyone\u2019s\nscreen live, allowing for seamless editing and teamwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Dropbox<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
19. Host a\npodcast easily with Dropbox\u2019s JustCast: <\/strong>Podcasting\nis a growing entertainment industry. There are a lot of services that can be\nused to deliver podcasts via channels. These services, while they are amazing\nat delivering and managing a channel, can be a hassle to actually keep your\nfiles stored. This can lead to files getting accidentally disorganized or even\nlost if there are hundreds of episodes. Dropbox helps podcasters solve this\nissue via its JustCast service. This service lets users simply use the Dropbox\narchitecture to manage their podcast\u2019s files. Users can create a JustCast\nfolder on their computers, and every audio file copied into this folder gets\nuploaded to the podcast service of the user\u2019s choice, removing all hassle about\nfile storage and management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: JustCast<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
20. Create a\nportfolio with all your photos, including marketing tools: <\/strong>A very unlikely use for Dropbox is found among photographers.\nDropboxes Photoshoot is the perfect tool for photographers to market their\nportfolios properly. They can arrange their photos appropriately, create\ncategories, write small segments or captions for every picture, etc. There are\nalso options for including links to your social media profiles. This is very\nimportant for photographers as their portfolio is where they get a majority of\ntheir business come through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Imaging\nResource<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
21. Monitor\nyour computer remotely: <\/strong>There are a lot of reasons\none might want to keep a close eye on their computer when they are away. This\nbrings up another rather unexpected feature of Dropbox into the light. Dropbox\nhas a very simple screenshot feature that allows for screenshots to be taken at\nregular intervals as long as the computer is switched on. These screenshots can\nbe directly synced to the Dropbox account logged into the computer. This can be\nused to monitor what is happening on the computer at all times with the Dropbox\napplication from another device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Labnol<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
22. Send a\nfile to be downloaded directly instead of being previewed: <\/strong>Do you want to share a file with somebody but have them downloaded\ndirectly instead of being previewed when clicked? Now with Dropbox, it is very\neasy! This can be very handy when sharing a large number of files with a lot of\npeople, so they don’t have to wait around for every file to open first, and\nthen waiting for it to download. The way to do this is rather simple. All one\nneeds to do is to generate the share link. Then scan through the link and find\nthe phrase \u201cdl=0\u201d. Just change this zero to a one. So, it should say \u201cdl=1\u201d.\nFor example, let\u2019s say the Dropbox link reads <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cwww.dropbox.com\/\u2026\/URL.webloc?dl=0\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Change the bit at the end to say \u201cdl=1\u201d.\nSo, your final link should be of the format: \u201cwww.dropbox.com\/\u2026\/URL.webloc?dl=0<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Source: Zapier<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources and References<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Google\nPlay<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Data\nCenter Knowledge<\/a><\/li>
- Forbes<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- JustCast<\/a><\/li>
- Imaging\nResource<\/a><\/li>
- Labnol<\/a><\/li>
- Zapier<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
- Dropbox<\/a><\/li>
- 1.2 billion <\/strong>files are saved on Dropbox every day.<\/li>