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Box CEO Talks European Plans, Warns About Meeting BlackBerry's Fate

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the take-heed dept.

mattydread23 writes "Earlier this week in London, Box CEO Aaron Levie gave other enterprise software companies a warning: If they continue to ignore what users want and how they work, they could easily end up like BlackBerry. The shift to cloud computing makes easy for companies to abandon you: 'This shift means the onus more than ever is on the vendor. If we don't stay competitive, if we don't build whatever that that next thing is the user wants to do and build it in as simple a way as they expect from the consumer tools they are using, then we will get swapped out.'"

44 comments

  1. Not like Blackberry by Spy+Handler · · Score: 2

    because most people have heard of Blackberry and know what it is.

    1. Re:Not like Blackberry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed, I should NOT have had to google to fins out that Box is a cloud provider. Submitter fail, editor fail. If I'd seen this in the firehose I'd have voted -1, stupid.

  2. Linux integration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The user (me) wants proper integration with Linux, similar to what Ubuntu One and Dropbox are offering.

    1. Re: Linux integration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, he's saying businesses should make/do things their customers want.

      Interesting. Very interesting.

  3. Not necessarily true ... by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1

    " If we don't stay competitive, if we don't build whatever that that next thing is the user wants to do and build it in as simple a way as they expect from the consumer tools they are using, then we will get swapped out "

    The above quote might happen only if ...
     
    ... there are many direct competitors offering similar products in the market
     
    On the other hand, if your company offers the only product there is, or you are one of the very few providing similar goods and/or services, you have nothing to worry.
     
    You will still be in the playing field even after you repeatedly fuck up your customers.
     
    Examples:
     
    Microsoft
     
    Nvdia/ATI
     
    Seagate/WD
     

    --
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    1. Re:Not necessarily true ... by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      Microsoft was the first ever company to produce an OS, or where there companies before that went bust despite at one point being market leader?
      Similar for the other companies you name.
      Even Facebook and Google will one day be a thing of the past.

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    2. Re:Not necessarily true ... by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 2

      Microsoft was the first ever company to produce an OS, or where there companies before that went bust despite at one point being market leader?
      Similar for the other companies you name.

      Before Microsoft there were many companies producing OS, such as CP/M, Atari-TOS, and so on.

      Most of those firms went bust because the computer platforms that their OS ran on no longer exist.

      And then there were competitors such as IBM - which shot themselves in the foot once too many times (much more than Microsoft did to their own feet).

      Even Facebook and Google will one day be a thing of the past.

      I agree that nothing will last forever.

      IBM was one time the almighty of all things technology, and look where are they now ?

      But my point being, as long as your product is THE ONLY ONE IN THE MARKET, and as long as the market still exists, you have nothing to worry about.

      --
      Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    3. Re:Not necessarily true ... by clickclickdrone · · Score: 1

      OTOH you have Oracle who almost no one has a good word for, aren't the only DB in town but still seem to be very much the market leader.

      --
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    4. Re:Not necessarily true ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I am a firm believer of the theory that suggests oracle is either washing dirty money for very influential people, or has somehow managed to conceal their billing with customers so well that the customers don't know they are actually paying oracle. The company seems to do nothing, yet they have money.

    5. Re:Not necessarily true ... by clickclickdrone · · Score: 3, Interesting

      >IBM was one time the almighty of all things technology, and look where are they now ?
      2012 Net income $17.6bn on $104.5bn sales. Not that shabby.

      --
      I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
    6. Re:Not necessarily true ... by jmauro · · Score: 1

      But my point being, as long as your product is THE ONLY ONE IN THE MARKET, and as long as the market still exists, you have nothing to worry about.

      If you think you are the only one in the market, there is a good chance that you have completely misdefined your market. History is littered with companies that thought they had their market down pat and that they were the only major dominate player in it. But there are always products that are just tangential to your market that make a good enough replacement that some consumers will start using (and then the company will improve making it good enough for other customers). See Blackberry, Blockbuster, large steel mills. Most companies will miss this until it's too late since the first customers to leave are usually the most price sensitive (and therefore usually the least profitable ones).

      The only company that really catches onto this well is Apple who's fully willing to cannibalize their sales of one product to introduce a new one in a slightly different market. See the iPhone basically killing off the iPod and the iPad starting to eat deep into the Mac sales.

    7. Re:Not necessarily true ... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Microsoft was the first ever company to produce an OS, or where there companies before that went bust despite at one point being market leader?

      Microsoft was the first (I think, certainly one of the first) company to sell an OS as a commodity off-the-shelf product. Previously, operating systems had been sold to computer manufacturers, tailored specifically to their system, and developed in-house with the computer. IBM was the first company to develop an OS (OS/360) that ran on multiple computers and allowed userspace software to be trivially ported between them. Microsoft recognised this trend (almost 20 years later) and realised that the OS, not the hardware, was what defined the computer and that this was the right monopoly to aim for.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    8. Re:Not necessarily true ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Both, I think.

    9. Re:Not necessarily true ... by mlts · · Score: 1

      Home Depot and Lowe's is another. However, the way those two compete is that one is slightly cheaper, the other is slightly more upscale. This allows them to have the same market, but yet still be slightly different.

      The problem is that Box seems to be falling behind Dropbox when it comes to acceptance. On most iOS apps, if there is a cloud provider, it will be Dropbox, then iCloud. On Android, it is Dropbox.

      What Box could do to keep up is have some method on Android phones to do data transfers similar to iCloud. For example, when I use an app to move some large documents into iCloud, the app returns automatically. The actual transfer on the device is then handled in the background. If Box could do this, it would keep them up to speed.

      Another thing Box could do for differentating themselves is to have client encryption built into the client, either with a passphrase or by grabbing a hash from a keyfile. That way, the actual data is stored on the server encrypted, someone who manages to get access to the Box account will only be able to access the encrypted data, but for apps with the proper keyfile or passphrase loaded, reading/writing stuff is completely transparent.

      Having the client have its own encryption may not stop the big guys who can force Box to push out backdoors, but it will definitely stop intruders who managed to slurp a password or two.

      Of course, it would be nice to have a public/private separation. Anything stored on the private side cannot be shared, no way, no how. Anything on the public side can be either private, shared with someone, or anyone with a link. That way, one knows that data stored will stay private no matter what.

    10. Re:Not necessarily true ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doubtful. Facebook has too much momentum and user base to disappear anytime soon. The concept of a water empire comes to mind.

      It would be impossible for any other company to move the sheer amount of people that FB has to their services, period.

    11. Re:Not necessarily true ... by bmo · · Score: 1

      >For example, when I use an app to move some large documents into iCloud, the app returns automatically. The actual transfer on the device is then handled in the background. If Box could do this, it would keep them up to speed.

      I use Box as a davfs filesystem.

      It does exactly this.

      --
      BMO

    12. Re:Not necessarily true ... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Holy crap, who modded that garbage up? Is slashdot giving mod points to ten year olds who know nothing of computer history? Micosoft the first one to write an OS??? That's just retardedly ignorant (as well as nearly incomprehensible, "or where there companies before"... probably meant "were" but is smoking crack while drinking rotgut whiskey.

      You know what's really gone downhill at slashdot in the last year or two? MODERATORS. Slashdot's giving points to morons.

      Someone with points who ISN'T a moron, please mod that stupid comment to oblivion.

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
    13. Re:Not necessarily true ... by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      You should continue reading to the end of the post before replying.
      Or atleast try to keep reading upto the first period (though you've probably already hit the submit button on your reply by now).

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    14. Re:Not necessarily true ... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      If the first sentence is utter garbage, why should I read further?

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    15. Re:Not necessarily true ... by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      Because then you'd understand that the complete post may imply the first sentence was meant sarcastic?
      Actually, you should have been able to understand this if you've read the complete first sentence, but apparently you stopped at the first punctuation mark you encountered.
      Don't you think it's odd that several others have replied and all of them seems to have understood the sarcasm? They might not agree with the statement, but atleast they took the trouble to actually read it.

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    16. Re:Not necessarily true ... by davester666 · · Score: 1

      > If you think you are the only one in the market, there is a good chance that you have completely misdefined your market

      I believe this pretty much defines RIM/BlackBerry...

      --
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  4. what is "Box" by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Informative

    Box Inc. is an online file sharing and cloud content management service for businesses. The company adopted a freemium business model, and provides up to 10 GB of free storage for personal accounts.

    it seems like articles have started assuming we know what every product and corporation is and does.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:what is "Box" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Spread UR legs. If U C something sticking out U don't have 1. U don't need 2 know anything more than that.

    2. Re:what is "Box" by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 1

      Box is a cloud storage solution, like Dropbox or Google Drive.

      I had never heard of them until Root File Manager (Android file manager) asked me to connect to it.

    3. Re:what is "Box" by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 2

      In addition to that, it's no wonder they're going under (hey, it rhymed). Box offers NOTHING that Dropbox or Google Drive already do, and do it better.

    4. Re:what is "Box" by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      it seems like articles have started assuming we know what every product and corporation is and does.

      Articles have started assuming that you're capable of using wikipedia and google. For bonus points, you might also want to try to stay aware and informed. All the people who are know what box is.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:what is "Box" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aaron Levie is kind of famous in the startup world because of his twitter comments on competitors and the conditions of the market. Basically, if you follow startups, you know who he is.

    6. Re:what is "Box" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry but if you don't know what Box is, please turn in your geek card.

      More importantly, if you can't do a two second search to find out the answer on your own, turn in your geek card.

      I would rather articles assume I know what they're talking about than to assume we know nothing and hold our hands through everything. If I want to read the mainstream news, I will. I'm a geek reading geek news. Make assumptions that I know some things and, for the things I don't know, I'll either educate myself or, if I don't care about it, I won't.

    7. Re:what is "Box" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And every moment you're reading Wikipedia or Google results, you're not reading Slashdot.
      In an environment resplendent with sources of news and information, you'd think that a "news" site (and their advertisers) would prefer people to stay on their website, rather than go gallivanting off getting distracted elsewhere.

    8. Re:what is "Box" by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Box offers NOTHING that Dropbox or Google Drive already do, and do it better.

      Well, try getting 50GB of space for free from Dropbox or Google Drive. Box runs those promos so often it's almost impossible to NOT get 50GB...

    9. Re:what is "Box" by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      In an environment resplendent with sources of news and information, you'd think that a "news" site (and their advertisers) would prefer people to stay on their website, rather than go gallivanting off getting distracted elsewhere.

      Today you can usually count on people to come back later when they close the tabs related to their diversion, because the other tabs will still be there because their browser hasn't managed to eat them. I mean, I can't be the only one who had that problem a lot, and isn't having it a lot any more.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:what is "Box" by Specter · · Score: 1

      Their enterprise security and controls are better than either DropBox or Google.

    11. Re:what is "Box" by k8to · · Score: 1

      Too bad the usability is worse than both combined.

      Really Box is just a way for lazy corporate IT departments to spend money instead of do their jobs providing secure, functional file access services. The only people who like it are CIO type morons who don't know what their users need but are sure everything has to be outsourced.

      --
      -josh
  5. i-products are over rated by Karmashock · · Score: 0

    vastly.

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  6. Laptops by pmontra · · Score: 1

    This made me think about the laptop market. It seems to me that manufactures are ignoring the call for 16:10 screens. Only one of them still sells laptops with those screens and it's doing well. You know who it is. All the others give us shorter screens for the same width. Add ten years old 1366x768 resolutions and one wonders why they are surprised to see the market crash. They can't really compete on price with tablets, they must compete on quality.

    1. Re:Laptops by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      The comparison to laptops brings to mind one rather galling issue with the 'BYOD/embracing consumer technology/user-demand-driven/etc.' stuff:

      The bottom-feeder laptop slingers are in a bind; because people really do care about price, and they listened; but now they've put out enough shoddy stuff that, for the most part, nobody trusts any unique quality or feature claims that they make(not enough to pay much extra, at least), and so they have to keep squeezing the BoM even harder than the other guy. Only a player who can assert superiority that people will pay extra for has the room to simply refuse to offer cut-down products and only build stuff that you'll have to pay extra for.

      With the consumer services side, it's heavily driven by ease-of-use and price. Is it free? Great. Can I clicky-click in with my facebook account credentials? Wonderful. Is it automagic? Hooray.

      Sometimes such products simply are superior; but others they are easier to use mostly because they ignore stodgy 'enterprise' requirements that nobody likes dealing with.You think your IT department likes being Officer Hardass about document retention, or not fucking around with HIPAA-covered data? Hardly. Is it their job to tell you that No. You. Cannot. Put. Medical. Records. On. Dropbox. I. Don't. Care. About. iPad. Support? Unfortunately, sometimes it is(and if they were your medical records, you'd want it to be.)

      Some do better than others; but it isn't uncommon to find that a service that grew up in consumer land, and still does most of its business there, has spent so much time chasing and polishing what people actually want (cheap, easy) that they either simply cannot sell you the additional features you need, or there are nightmarish integration issues (Why would you want the ability to authenticate against an LDAP server? Every single user can just create a new username and password with us!)

      Inertia helps, as does vendor lock in; but some consumer services are treated like cheap, shiny, toys because they are.

    2. Re:Laptops by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LDAP is so 1990s.
      Google+ is the only sign-in you need these days.

  7. That's funny coming from Box by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're always like "Here, have a ton of space... for free! But we're going to make it really hard to use unless you pay us!"

    1. Re:That's funny coming from Box by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But we're going to make it really hard to use unless you pay us!

      I think maybe TFA is a mistranslation or misquote or something. What he really meant to say was "sell the users what they want" not "give the users what they want".

  8. Web app versus Native app by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My question is, does cloud service take away any advantage that web apps have over native apps? Our company's rich GUI apps running as SaaS look pretty nice to our customers. Is app development going to swing back to more traditional platforms?

  9. Slashvertisement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My company is riding the wave of the future, others are doomed to irrelevance and bankruptcy. Gone! Kaput! Blackberry!!!

    Check out our web site for the latest marketing white papers on how we can help you meet your needs!

  10. Boxes by NoImNotNineVolt · · Score: 2

    I would have thought that with the rise of online shopping, boxes would be in greater demand now than ever, what with all the shipping and stuff.

    --
    Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
  11. But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What I want for a phone, looks most like a Blackberry and who the hell wants to store their data in the cloud? Well, not me- that's for sure.