The Photos page is changing...

I suspected this was in the offing when Dropbox sent out a questionnaire that was heavily focused on photos.  I called Dropbox out in my responses, but apparently it is marching along.

As an IP lawyer who has seen a lot, I have 3 working theories as to what may be behind this move:

1. Poor Business Judgment:  Believing it failed to win over consumers with Carousel, Dropbox dropped it, and is convinced it must minimize photo services to be perceived as a "serious" business app.  That, of course, is a false dilemma. There is little or no overhead cost in being both, and no value in driving its customers who like the photo service away.
2. It’s a Contract Issue: Carousel appears to have been licensed, or there was no reason to drop it.  It may be that there was a noncompetition clause that requires Dropbox to get out of the photo-specific business after a certain time.
3. It’s a Patent Issue. The move to “we’ll just put your photos in a folder” has the smell of a patent holder threatening to sue over online photo storage, or perhaps photo album-sharing.  I don’t know if that’s the case, but Dropbox’s approach could be a work-around, since obviously putting photos in folders is prior art.

Whatever is going on, Dropbox’s attempt at coy messaging on this demonstrates it is either inept at marketing or just doesn’t care.  However, working oneself into a lather over changes one hasn’t seen yet is counterproductive.  I’m willing to give Dropbox a chance to roll out a useful product: one that maintains automatic file uploads and viewing, and posting to outside services, since I use Dropbox for many other things.  The UE is a bit ancient, but it has the virtue of being simple. If Dropbox fails to satisfy, the market will provide – it’s not the only cloud in the sky.