Amazon Cloud Drive is not Dropbox
It’s better.
At least it will be very soon.
Not Dropbox
I want to write a bit about Amazon Cloud Drive because I think it is a very important product and it is mostly getting dismissed because of comparisons to Dropbox. Let’s hold up a sec. Amazon Cloud Drive is not Dropbox. It is something different. It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t do any of the magic syncing that Dropbox is known and loved for. It’s going to do something better: release an API and become a platform.
Cloud Drive Platform
The Amazon Cloud Drive was not launched on its own. It was joined by a new web and mobile (android only) app called the Amazon Cloud Player. The Cloud Player allows users to stream any mp3s that live on their Cloud Drives. It is the first app built on the Cloud Drive platform and though it may be ugly, it hints at some exciting potential. That potential lies in separating storing files in the cloud from doing cool things with those files. One such cool thing, as evidenced by the Cloud Player, is streaming music from anywhere, but there is no reason to think that another cool thing might not be some sort of Dropbox-style syncing. When your files live in the cloud and can be opened up at your request with an API, there is no limit to what new apps that can be built. Of course this is all dependent on Amazon releasing an API, but they aren’t the type of company to commit such a misstep so I have faith.
Dropbox V2
I wouldn’t be surprised if a version of Dropbox that plays nicely with the Cloud Drive is one of the first Cloud Drive apps on the scene. It makes a great deal of sense. Instead of paying Dropbox for storage and syncing, we could just pay them for syncing. As it stands now, Dropbox is a middleman between you and Amazon in terms of storage. The costs for 50GB / 100 GB Amazon Cloud Drives are half the price of Dropbox and have a better chance of staying that way. Amazon has mastered storage and Dropbox has mastered syncing. Let’s allocate funds to the right places for the right services.
Rough and Tumble
This is a pretty rough and tumble writeup and I’m sure I’ve missed some important points, but I wanted to get something out there to change the dialog from “not a viable Dropbox competitor” to “Holy shit there is going to be an inexpensive platform for content in the cloud!” I hope it helps.
