When you think about Dropbox your first thought is probably that special folder on your computer where you save things that you want to have access too on all your devices. While this might be a great advancement for many of us it is actually a pretty limited feature. You only get access to the data you have added to Dropbox. Forget to add something to the Dropbox folder and you are out of luck.
This video from the GigaOm RoadMap conference Drew Houston talks about the future of Dropbox and how this folder concept is just the beginning of Dropbox and where it is going as a company.
It sounds to me like he is actually talking about another company that is starting to make waves, Bitcasa. While I have not actually had the chance to try Bitcasa yet the model sounds very similar. Check out this great video from Robert Scoble when he interviewed and got a demo of Bitcasa from CEO Tony Gauda.
There is no doubt that Dropbox is a leader in the online storage industry. They have helped to revolutionize how people save and access there data on multiple devices. They have done such a good job that other companies have moved into the file access and sync space. Companies like Mozy created mobile apps and soon will have online sync available as well. SugarSync started out with a similar service. These services are all limited though and storage with Dropbox is expensive. Imagine trying to store all of your data in Dropbox? It would cost a small fortune per month. Bitcasa aims to do exactly that for only $10.00/month and moves away from the model of having your data on your desktop or laptop but moves everything to the cloud.
I have to wonder if Dropbox has been watching what Bitcasa has been doing and has them on their list for acquisition? What do you think, is Bitcasa a possible purchase for Dropbox? Or will we see more of a showdown in online storage coming in 2012?
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