Suggestion for new additional product

Good day,

I am a user of dropbox and I have some suggestions I would like to share with you.

Please note that I am not a technical person and can't advise on the creation process. But I can at least state why to take my suggestion from a business standpoint.

I want to cover an approach that I believe would be a benefit to your company.

This approach being looking at transferring and sharing files not just through cloud but making use of direct sharing methods between devices and creating better ease of use. For the sake of referencing, I will refer to this core concept as 'ease of direct sharing'.

In my opinion, Dropbox's value was not just use of cloud but making transferring, sharing and backing up files easier.

And because of that, I believe Dropbox can achieve success through this approach I am suggesting.

I will breakdown now by what I'm actually suggesting to do as well as explain what I mean by direct sharing methods.

When I'm referring to direct sharing methods I am speaking about methods you are aware of. Those being:

• Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi direct
• Nearby share
• Over LAN network
• Wired (USB cable)

I'm certain you used each one of these methods to transfer files before. And I'm certain you know how frustrating it can be to use these methods depending on which circumstances it is.

For example, Using Bluetooth to transfer files from your phone to your PC. Not extremely difficult but compared doing it with phones, quite annoying.

Another example. Using Wi-Fi direct from android phone to your PC. Right now, nearby share (quick share) exists but it is not very straight forward for a user on how to setup and use and is difficult to adjust certain aspects of the transfer.

Another one is using nearby share from pc to PC.

What about transferring from your IPhone to your PC?

Have you ever attempted to transfer files from PC to PC via USB cable?

I won't go through every scenario here. My point is that we have all these technologies for device to device sharing but it still not as seamless as it could be.

There are existing solutions to all these scenarios but requires different applications for all of these scenarios. There is no single product that helps make this all easier. I believe Dropbox can make that product.

I think if certain aspects were done for this approach, it could bring great success.

Those aspects being:

• Create a file explorer application, at least for mobile.
• Make sure this new application can do certain functions.
• And create sync not just for cloud but for device to device.

First aspect - create a File explorer

It is to either create a file explorer application or add it as a feature. At the very least, create one for mobile devices and add it as a feature for the computer applications. The file explorer is for 2 reasons.

First reason is that, in the Android environment, in my opinion, I believe there is a desire for a proper and robust file explorer for those who often manage their files manually.

I would recommend creating the explorer at the level of something like ‘ES file explorer’ which allows for more features than most basic file explorer apps.

The second reason is that it will be the center of making use of all these features and functions that will be added.

Second aspect - functions that should be added

Note: When I state any device, I will be referring to Android phones, IPhones, Android tablets, IPads, Windows computers, Macs & Linux machines (particularly those running Steam OS).

These are the fundamental functions that the application should be able to do:

• The application should allow and make easy the transfer of files between any devices when done via Bluetooth.
• The application should allow and make easy the transfer of files between any devices when done via Wi-Fi Direct.
• The application should allow and make easy the transfer of files between any devices when done via Nearby share.
• The application should allow and make easy the transfer of files between any devices when done via LANNetwork.
• The application should allow and make easy the transfer of files between any devices when done via Wired (USB cable).
• The application should be able to easily turn a device into a FTP server which can be found and explored through the application on another device. This would be over Bluetooth, LAN Network, Wi-Fi Direct or Mobile Hotspot.
• The application should be cross platform. Those being Android, IOS, Windows, Mac and Linux (particularly for Steam OS).
• The application should allow for transfers of multiple files through a single request.
• The application should allow for transfers of a whole folder or multiple folders through a single request.

Third aspect - creating Syncing function

I would like to propose creating the function to sync files and folders directly between devices. Cloud would not be the medium but rather direct sharing methods would be used.

I believe many people would like to use Syncing between devices as cloud can still be a bottle neck to them.

There are 3 types of Syncing functions I would like propose.

The First type would be, as mentioned before, syncing files and folders through the use of direct sharing methods. It is as it sounds. Similar to Syncing with cloud, the devices mirror each other.

The second type would be Syncing from cloud to device, at least for mobile. I am aware that Dropbox and other Cloud services have an offline feature but for mobile, as far as I am aware, the files are only accessible through the app. This function is so that the actual files are there to use like regular files. Along with this, I would suggest providing the same service with other Cloud services. This will help you gain some users from other Cloud services customers.

I would recommend looking at Metactrl about this as they have apps that do this already. I'm sure you're aware them as they already have Syncing for Dropbox, probably using an API Dropbox would have made. You could partner with them as to power the function in the application.

The third type would be Syncing devices with physical storage media (flash drives and hard drives).

What I have in mind is where, after a setup process, a flash drive can be inserted into a device and the files can be synced automatically.

I believe there are many people who would still prefer to keep copies of files on flash drives as backups but it is often quite annoying to manually browse through the files and copy and paste the files regularly.

This concludes my suggestion. There are some more aspects I wanted to discuss but I'll leave it at the core points.

I very much believe this approach will be a benefit to your company.

In my opinion, Dropbox at its core is not about cloud but making existing technology easier for others to use.

If you are interested in my suggestion and have more questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Kind regards,

Marc Harrilal