Dropbox buys email app Mailbox

Dropbox has announced that it has bought over the critically acclaimed email app Mailbox only a month after it hit the markets. This is the first time Dropbox is venturing out of its file-sharing niche to acquire apps and services beyond it.

“Like many of you, when we discovered Mailbox we fell in love—it was simple, delightful, and beautifully engineered,” Dropbox wrote in its blog announcing the acquisition. “After spending time with Gentry, Scott, and the team, it became clear that their calling was the same as ours at Dropbox—to solve life’s hidden problems and reimagine the things we do every day. We all quickly realized that together we could save millions of people a lot of pain.”

Dropbox+Mailbox=Larger file attachments?

All 14 members of Mailbox’s team are set to join Dropbox, according to The Wall Street Journal. While the terms of the takeover and the price at which the deal was sealed have not been revealed, it is being speculated that the price tag could have been anywhere between $50 million to $100 million. It is being reported that the deal could have well been towards the higher side in cash and stock. GigaOm also said that biggies like Facebook and Yahoo made failed bids to purchase Mailbox.

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The Mailbox team wrote in a blog post that ensuring the spread of the application and adding new features is something a team of 14 cannot handle and that’s where Dropbox comes into the picture. “Rather than grow Mailbox on our own, we’ve decided to join forces with Dropbox and build it out together,” read the blog.

Mailbox has assured worried loyal users that the app isn’t going away anywhere. “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,” the excited team wrote.

The deal clearly has come together with file attachments in mind. People generally prefer uploading their files onto Dropbox and sharing them with their friends over using mail attachments. Besides the fact that there is a lower cap on the file size you can upload in mails, an app like Dropbox provides a simple and more accessible interface to go back and access the files again. We can only imagine the benefit an email app’s association with cloud service giant Dropbox will bring to the table.

Dropbox, besides going on a purchase spree has been looking at improving user experience within its services. Earlier this week, Dropbox gave a facelift to its desktop apps and added features like thumbnails for recent uploads and a faster notification centre to keep the user updated.