Samsung takes on Apple’s iCloud with new Dropbox deal

Samsung and Dropbox have inked a deal with will see Dropbox’s cloud storage app included on more of Samsung products – and not just smartphones.

With the deal consumer who buy the latest generation of Samsung devices, including smartphones and connected cameras will be able to automatically sign into their Dropbox account on activation.  The Dropbox app will also be available on Samsung’s latest range of smart TVs and Blu-ray players.

The deal forms a part of Samsung’s response to Apple’s iCloud service, which allows users to backup files and data online.

The big draw for consumers will be the ability to immediately access their Dropbox files on their Samsung smartphones, smart TVs and other devices. While Dropbox will be hoping that by partnering with the largest maker of smartphones they’ll get a boost in signups.

This isn’t totally a new deal between the companies – Samsung and Dropbox have been partners for a number of years, as any owner of a Samsung Galaxy SIII or Note II will know.  For a while now owners of these devices have been able to sign into their Dropbox accounts on activation. And been awarded with an additional 48GB of free space on the site for doing so (albeit for only two years).

The main advantage for consumers with the deal will be Dropbox’s Camera Upload service, which automatically uploads copies of photos users take with their smartphones to their Dropbox account.

According to Computer World, for its part Samsung will integrate Dropbox into its AllShare Play application, which is designed to let Samsung devices share content over the same wireless connection. Samsung already has a similar deal with SugarSync which brings the cloud storage service to its current generation of Smart TVs.

It’ll be interesting to see how this partnership works out as Samsung has plans to become the largest manufacturer of home electronics by 2015 and just this week posted record profits of €6.2 billion (US$8.27 billion), with the majority of this coming from its smartphone division.