Yesterday Dropbox and Microsoft announced a new working agreement that will bring a lot of Dropbox integration to Microsoft devices and services. Amongst the announcements was that there would finally be an official Dropbox for Windows Phone app released in the coming months, ending years of lack of official support from the cloud storage company.
While no official date was giving for it, Dropbox indicated that an official app for Windows Phone would be coming in the next few months, bringing their support in line for what they already have in iOS and Android. It should be a welcome announcement for those who use Dropbox but is an interesting development given Microsoft’s recent announcement of unlimited storage on OneDrive for Office 365 customers. Still, many Windows Phone users use both Dropbox and OneDrive (I am one of them) and having official support is always a good thing.
Amongst the other announcements yesterday as well is that the Office for iPad apps will support Dropbox integration as well as OneDrive to again make it easier for users of both services. Office online will also be getting updated with Dropbox support in the first part of 2015.
While it is certainly a welcome announcement, it is curious nevertheless on timing. Dropbox is effectively a one-trick pony and undoubtedly the pressure is on them from the likes of Microsoft and Google who offer more cloud storage at a fraction of the cost. Likewise it could be seen that Dropbox is finally recognizing the importance of Windows Phone in the market, much like Fitbit did a few weeks ago with their improved collaboration with Microsoft which was followed a few days later by the Microsoft Band announcement. It seems that Dropbox, like Fitbit, is willing to work with the software titan despite solutions that directly compete against them. That’s not unheard of overall, just a new twist as Windows Phone continues to gain market momentum.
