Box.net Releases OpenBox Platform for Integration of Web Applications
Online storage provider Box.net is announcing today the launch of OpenBox, a platform for developers to integrate their web applications into Box.net. — The platform, once rolled out in full by December 5th …
Context & Ripple Effects
With no prior platform moves in the record, this is Box.net's first step out of the standalone-file-storage category: OpenBox, announced November 13, 2007, lets outside developers wire their web applications directly into Box.net-hosted files, with the company committing to a full rollout by December 5th. The significance is positioning — Box.net is declaring that its value is the content layer other tools build on, not the bytes themselves.
First-order effects
- Third-party developers gain programmatic access to integrate their web applications with Box.net accounts and stored files, turning Box.net's user base into a distribution channel for those apps.
- For Box.net, the immediate change is competitive identity: from December 5th it competes as a platform host, not just a paid storage quota.
Second-order effects
- Rival online-storage services face pressure to answer with comparable open integrations or concede the higher-value 'content platform' ground and compete purely on capacity and price.
- Developers who build on OpenBox acquire a stake in Box.net's growth, giving the startup an ecosystem moat that pure-storage pricing wars cannot easily erode.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds across the industry, hosted storage commoditizes while the integration layer above it captures the value — the durable structure being platforms that own user content relationships and rent access to them.
The trend: Web-hosted storage is shifting from a file locker into an integration platform where third-party applications plug directly into users' stored content.