盒子之争：Box与Dropbox展开上市赛跑

    快问快答：以云存储和文件分享为核心，有望在今年上市，名字中含有“box”的公司是哪家？（提示：答案不止一个）。

    无论你猜Box还是Dropbox，都算答对了。因为从表面上看，这两家公司非常类似，尤其是两家公司都即将上市，而且都在积极迎合企业用户的需求。两家公司都从顶级风险投资公司筹得了数亿美元资金，员工人数和客户群都增速惊人，而且两家公司都在近几个月网罗到了知名度颇高的高管。两家公司都是由穿着运动鞋的年轻企业家掌管，罗纳德•里根就任总统时，这两家公司的掌门人都还没出生呢。最重要的是，两家公司的业务也十分类似：都是依托于网络存储、同步并共享照片、文档和其他文件的服务。

    不过Box和Dropbox的确有不少明显的差异。首先，它们的价格策略相差很大。（大家可以登陆两家公司的网站仔细对比一下费用和云存储空间。）当然，从网站主页上，你可以一目了然地观察到两家公司的显著差别。打开Box的主页，首先映入眼帘的是五个标签页——个人版、商业版、企业版、价格信息以及销售联系电话。网页上充斥着诸如“领先业界的安全保证”和“可扩展性”等宣传用语。当然，Box也不忘在主页上放上了其引以为豪的客户名单，其中包括宝洁（Procter & Gamble）和Pandora等知名企业。Dropbox.com则完全不同，上面提到的这些信息一条也看不到。网页上只有一张简洁的素描图——两部移动设备放在一台笔记本上；一个醒目的蓝色按钮提醒用户登录，以及Dropbox简单明了的宣传语“让资料触手可及”。

    两家公司的网站旗帜鲜明地表述了各自的侧重点：Box致力于服务企业级用户（他们关注的是安全性、云存储与其他企业级应用的可集成性以及还有哪些商业用户也在使用这项服务）；而Dropbox更青睐个人用户（这些人希望尽可能简便快捷地使用云存储）。虽然Box并不是以企业级服务起家，但公司联合创始人兼首席执行官艾伦•列维很快认识到这才是公司的财源所在。虽然Box同时也向个人用户提供免费账号，但利维的重心已转移到如何更好地把Box云服务整合到现有的Salesforce和Google Apps等企业级软件中。这家公司宣称它目前已拥有约2000万独立用户，分布在20余万家企业，几乎涵盖了《财富》世界500强榜单中的所有公司。

    Dropbox则一贯以服务个人用户而著称。公司联合创始人德鲁•休斯敦和阿拉什•费尔多西为了能在不同电脑上办公而不得不用电子邮件反复转发文件，他们对此早已深恶痛绝，于是两人在2007年创立Dropbox。今天，全球有超过2亿用户在使用Dropbox存储和分享文件，不过只有极少属于付费用户。所以，Dropbpx也将目光瞄准了企业级市场，这些在商言商的用户更容易接受付费服务的模式。最近一段时间，Dropbox发布了一系列面向企业级用户的功能，公司内部也输入了不少企业应用的DNA。不过，从这家公司的主页来看，Dropbox仍然是一家以个人用户为中心的云存储服务商。

    这两家云存储公司的估值也大相径庭。Box的估值据称可达20亿美元，而Dropbox估值更是超过100亿美元，两者都被称为今年科技界最值得期待的IPO。Box和Dropbox这两家公司，谁的战略和市场更清晰，特别是谁将获得"BOX"这个股票代码？我们拭目以待。（财富中文网）

    译者：项航

    Quick -- name a cloud-based, file-sharing provider that's expected to go public later this year and has the word "box" in its name. (Hint: there's more than one right answer.)

    Whether you guessed Box or Dropbox, you're correct. That's because, on the surface, the two appear to be very similar companies, especially now that both startups are nearing their respective IPOs and catering more and more to enterprise customers. Both have raised hundreds of millions of dollars from top venture capital firms, touted impressive growth -- both in employee count and customer base -- and managed to nab some high-profile executives in recent months. Both are run by young, sneaker-wearing entrepreneurs who weren't yet alive when former president Ronald Reagan took office. And, bottom line, both companies have similar offerings: web-based storage, syncing and sharing for photos, documents, and other files.

    But Box and Dropbox do have some noteworthy differences. Yes, there are variations in their pricing plans. (For a comparison, check out their fees and storage capacities here and here.) The real difference, though, can be plainly seen by viewing each company's homepage. Scroll through Box's website and you'll see multiple tabs -- Box for personal, business, and enterprise IT needs, plus information on pricing and a sales contact number. You'll also see words like "security leadership" and "scalable." And the logos of some of Box's most recognizable corporate customers, including Procter & Gamble (PG) and Pandora (P). Browse through Dropbox.com, however, and you won't find any of the above information. There's just a small sketch of a laptop and mobile device, a big blue button that lets you sign up for an account, and the company's simplistic tagline: "Your stuff, anywhere."

    The companies' respective websites clarify the differences between the two: Box is focused on enterprise customers (who care about encryption, integration with other enterprise applications, and which other businesses are using the service) while Dropbox's bread and butter are consumers (who just want to get up and running with the service as quickly and smoothly as possible). Despite the fact that Box didn't start out as an enterprise player, co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie quickly realized that would be his sweet spot. The company offers a free account for consumers, but Levie's efforts have gone toward integrating Box's offering with existing enterprise apps like Salesforce (CRM) and Google (GOOG) Apps. The company says it now has about 20 million individual users spread across over 200,000 businesses, including users within nearly all of the companies in the Fortune 500.

    Dropbox, meanwhile, has long catered to the everyday consumer -- co-founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi started the company back in 2007 because they were tired of e-mailing files to themselves to be able to work from multiple computers. Today, over 200 million people use Dropbox to store and share content, but only a small percentage of them pay to do so. That's why the startup is eyeing the enterprise market, where paying money for a service is a much more acceptable way of doing business. In recent months, Dropbox has rolled out a handful of features for corporate users and infused some enterprise DNA in the company. But, as a cursory glance at the startup's website will tell you, it's still very much a consumer play.

    The companies' valuations are yet another difference between the two file-sharing services. But with Box reportedly worth about $2 billion and Dropbox valued at upwards of $10 billion, both are being heralded as two of the largest expected tech IPOs this year. Which company's strategy and market focus -- not to mention which one will get the ticker symbol "BOX" -- remains to be seen.