Facebook to hold mobile event on Nov. 3, buys drop.io assets
updated 08:40 pm EDT, Fri October 29, 2010
Facebook teases mobile plans at Nov 3 event
Facebook tonight sent out invitations to a "mobile event" at its headquarters in Palo Alto. The company provided no clues as to its plans but is most likely to focus on new apps or app features. Other possibilities could include the results of recent talks with Apple or deeper integration within a given platform.
Rumors have reappeared of a Facebook phone project that would result in a heavily customized version of Android, but its legitimacy isn't known. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has denied competing directly in mobile, either in hardware or operating systems. Claims surrounding the project have maintained that Facebook was keeping the project secret even from most employees, however.
At its most recent mobile event, the social network unveiled Facebook Places, a Foursquare-like location check-in system and iPhone app.
The news came just as Facebook confirmed that it had bought most of the assets of drop.io, the well-known file transfer service. It stopped short of a takeover but bought most of the company's technology and other resources, including the employment of founder Sam Lessin. The deal will shut down drop.io but won't transfer resources to Facebook.
Users of the file drop service will have until December 15 to get their files, but secondary features like the programming APIs, Presslift and a Yahoo Mail app will stay alive for an undefined amount of extra time afterwards.
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drop.io hacks
So, this is the great "business model" we were waiting for from drop.io? Getting acquired? In most states, it is illegal for a company to give away a product at a loss in order to drive competitors out of business.
But drop.io, and the hundreds/thousands of other "free+we have no idea how we are going to make money" web profiteer companies take investor seed money and drive all of the revenue-generating small operations out of business. They aim to get acquired before their cash runs out. If that doesn't happen, or even if it does, the whole industry suffers.
This is because subsidies by definition distort supply and demand, and thinking that advertising (google or facebook) is enough to support all consumer needs drives down margins on all innovative profits to zero. The net effect is that small shops cannot survive. You have to "play the game" - like these two investment-bankers-turned-startup-directors who've played the vc field and now linked up with facebook. Good luck box.net or dropbox or any of the hundreds of smaller ops!