Box.net 50GB Gift to iOS Users

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Box (on the web at Box.net) is a ser­vice I rec­om­mend for file shar­ing.

In fact, we are using it for two genealog­i­cal soci­eties where I am on the board of direc­tors. File shar­ing on Box.net is sim­ple, sim­pler even than using Google Groups and oth­er meth­ods we have tried.

Box.net allows for uploads of large files and has an intu­itive inter­face. You can access your con­tent in Box.net on their web­site, as well as through ded­i­cat­ed apps for iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablets, Black­Ber­ry phones, and Black­Ber­ry tablets. Addi­tion­al­ly, you can save files into Box.net from a vari­ety of mobile apps, includ­ing GoodRead­er, Jot­Not, Quick­Of­fice, Doc­sTo­Go, and Pix­elpipe.

But the big sto­ry about Box.net this week is the announce­ment on their blog that users who access their Box.net accounts from the new iOS (iPhone, iPad) app, will receive 50 GB of stor­age for life. This is nor­mal­ly priced at $19.99 a year.

So, why is Box doing this, and how can they afford it?

They are doing it because they see the incred­i­ble poten­tial of mobile devices, such as the iPhone and the iPad. While they have con­sumer offer­ings, Box.net is main­ly focused on sell­ing cloud-based con­tent man­age­ment to enter­prise cus­tomers. They want to expand “mind-share” or name recog­ni­tion as iCloud and iOS 5 have an impact on the mar­ket and dri­ve large com­pa­nies (whether their IT depart­ments want it to hap­pen or not), into a cloud envi­ron­ment.

Soon, Apple will be enabling iCloud, with 5 GB of free stor­age (media pur­chased from Apple will not be count­ed against that user’s quo­ta). While Box.net is pri­mar­i­ly about file shar­ing, not file sync-ing, this makes their exist­ing 5 GB offer­ing less of a deal. But 50 GB for life: Now that’s a big deal! Stor­age is becom­ing cheap­er all the time, and the cor­po­rate accounts, with TB (ter­abytes) and EB (exabytes) of stor­age are where Box will make its mon­ey.

So what are you wait­ing for? To get the 50 GB, down­load the free iOS app (or have a friend do it) and either log into or cre­ate an account.

Read more about it on the blog entry “Why Box is Giv­ing iOS Users Mas­sive Amounts of Free Cloud Stor­age” by Aaron Levie (Co-founder and CEO of Box).