Dropbox banking on revolutionary new email

The basics of email seem a pretty formulaic and standardised system that leaves little room for innovation. But one new start-up is hoping to transform how people communicate and organise their lives by turning the emails into a scheduling tool.

Mailbox, an iOS app developed by Orchestra Inc and released in February, has generated a lot of hype, partly as a result of its slick, innovative design, but also because of the waiting list the developers required so that they could offer a stable service. This waiting list climbed to over 380,000 weeks before the app had even launched, while the company’s CEO, Gentry Underwood, told the Wall Street Journal recently that they had already taken 1.3m reservations since February.

The app allows users to swipe away new emails to be re-sent at a more convenient time, while it also places great emphasis on helping archive old emails and having an empty email, which it dubs Inbox Zero.

Dropbox was quick to realise the potential of this app, announcing that it had acquired Mailbox as part of its plans to diversify away from just an online storage company. The deal is thought to be worth as much as $100m. The email client won’t immediately be integrated into Dropbox, but will instead be developed separately, much like Facebook has done with Instagram. The company’s team of 14 employees will be integrated into the Dropbox staff.

The deal is seen as an attempt by Dropbox to challenge Google, who recently integrated their Google Drive with their Gmail email client. Google also beefed up its Gmail service when it recently bought popular iOS email client Sparrow in a deal last July worth $25m.

The Mailbox team posted a blog on their website after the deal: “Rather than grow Mailbox on our own, we’ve decided to join forces with Dropbox and build it out together. 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.”

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston told reporters there was a clear symmetry between the two firms: “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. 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.”