Dropbox CEO criticizes iCloud's "bizarre limitations"
Speaking at Mobile World Congress last week, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston said users should be wary of using cloud storage solutions that are provided by a single manufacturer of a smartphone. His statements were aimed at the concern that users could become locked into a device because that company's cloud solutions wouldn't run on any other devices.
Houston called out iCloud's "bizarre limitations," saying that no iPhone or iPad user can easily share iCloud documents with an Android device. "There will never be an engineer in the Apple cafeteria who's like, hey I made the Android version of iCloud," Houston told attendees, according to MacWorld UK. "You shouldn't have to care about the logo on the back of your phone or computer, it should just work with everything you have. That's the kind of limitation we want to help remove for people."
Houston specifically pointed to Samsung, which, like Apple, originally created its own proprietary cloud storage solution for its mobile devices. However, Samsung quickly came around and decided to partner with Dropbox, which works on almost every major mobile and desktop platform.
Since its inception, iCloud has taken a number of criticisms from its users and its competitors. Besides the lock-in to iOS devices and Macs, the service goes down from time to time, and users have also criticized the way its file management system works. As opposed to iCloud, the Dropbox file system works like a traditional computer's file system. Interestingly Apple tried to buy Dropbox in 2009 but Houston turn down the offer.
