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As a daily runner, I use mobile tech to track my exercise so that I can learn more about what training methods are working compared to those that aren’t. Strava is the mobile application I’m currently testing: the free software was first available for iOS and, more recently, launched for Android phones. How well does it work?

What does Strava do?

Overall, the Strava app is great for mapping your running routes through the GPS in your mobile phone. I’ve found the GPS to be very accurate and quick to get a satellite signal. During a run, however, the information available to you is somewhat limited. You get the elapsed time, distance and average pace, which are great, but the bare minimum, if you use iOS or Android.

Missing on the iOS version are any type of audio cues to your pace or distance, for example; something I rely heavily on during my training. And I may be nitpicking, but the distance field only shows miles to the nearest tenth. If I’m running a 5k — which is 3.1 miles — when I see the 3.0 on Strava Run, I’m left wondering how close I am to that last tenth of a mile. Is it seconds away or a full minute? Lastly, I see no way to enter a manual run, such as one from a treadmill, which is used commonly by many who live in colder climates.

Those observations aside, the free app works well for what functionality it does provide. Some runners may not care about the distance measurements in tenths of miles, or they may not want audio cues. This is where personal preferences come into play, and if you don’t care about those functions, Strava Run is great. But it actually gets better after your run.

When you get home

The Strava Run client uploads your running data to your Strava account. On the phone you can see the results of your run: a map, total time, average pace and pace for individual miles, along with the elevation change for each. I don’t yet have a heart-rate monitor, but if I did, Strava would  upload that data too. Strava tracks your equipment used, something I like because I never seem to remember how many miles I have on a pair of shoes. Any segments or achievements on this run are noted as well, but more on that in a bit.

Going to the Strava site provides even more granular data, provided you buy the Premium subscription. Pace and elevation are graphed under a map of the run. Even better, though, are the G.A.P. and pace zone distribution. G.A.P. stands for Grade Adjusted Pace: Strava adjusts your actual pace by taking the elevation gain or drop into account.

For example, I ran the second mile of a recent workout in 7:21. Factoring in the net elevation along that mile — it’s more uphill than down — the G.A.P. is 6:59 because I had to work harder than I would have if the route was flat.

The pace zone distribution is even more helpful, in my opinion. Based on your more recent 5k time, Strava calculates target zones for your running, based on type of training.

This ranges from  slow recovery runs, slightly faster endurance runs, tempo training and all-out effort. I’m now better informed about the pace I need to run on easy days versus the speed I need to run for upcoming races. After each run, Strava calculates how much time you spent on your run in each of these zones; ideally, you’d spend most of your time in one planned zone, depending on what type of training you planned. You can see I was all over the map on this last workout.

Let’s win awards and get social!

Like many other running software, Strava has a social aspect. You can connect to other Strava users, see their activities in your feed, give them “kudos” for a workout and “race” them virtually on the same routes. Strava also keeps track of your personal achievements for various distances: fastest half-mile or mile, for example. The service goes one step further with segments; both for you and other Strava users. You can pick any segment of a run and track times specific to that route.

I thought this was gimmicky at first, but it actually pushed me during my most recent run. The second mile of my five-mile route is a saved segment, and once I got to the starting point, I spontaneously decided to try and beat my prior time. I didn’t plan on running such a pace when starting my run, but knowing a segment was upcoming motivated me to run harder and earn an achievement.

The final lap

So is Strava worth the download? Absolutely, if you don’t mind getting limited information during your run or don’t use a treadmill. The software is free, but for a Premium subscription — $6 per month or $59 a year — you gain the detailed analytics and social aspects. Here’s a comparison of the free versus Premium service. In either case, you can export your running log data if desired.

The social bit is a huge motivator; something I can relate to personally, and it was reiterated during a call I had with Michael Horvath, the co-founder and CEO of Strava. So, are people paying for the Premium plan to add the social aspects? They are, said Horvath. “Nobody buys Premium on day one,” he told me. “But 15 percent of Strava users do upgrade. And when you consider that 40 percent of those who create a Strava account never actually log any activity data, our Premium take-up rate is actually better than 20 percent of the active user base.”

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

The New York Times is out with a story Tuesday that says a “loophole” in Apple’s mobile software allows developers of iOS apps to upload a user’s photo library without specific permission to do so.

According to the story, when a user grants permission to a downloaded app to use the device’s current location, that doesn’t give them permission to access just location, but also the photo library. The Times had a developer create an app called PhotoSpy to test this theory, and it reportedly worked: the app could upload user’s photos, which had been geotagged, giving information to the app about where the photos were taken and when:

When the “PhotoSpy” app was started up, it asked for access to location data. Once this was granted, it began siphoning photos and their location data to a remote server. (The app was not submitted to the App Store.)

Sound familiar? Apple came under fire earlier this month when it was revealed that apps like Path, Instagram, WhatsApp and others were uploading users’ address books to their companies’ servers, and that Apple had never placed a formal restriction or set a required permission for this.

The big difference here, however, is that while apps were actually caught uploading users’ address books to remote servers without users’ knowledge, there have been no confirmed cases of apps that are currently for sale in the App Store uploading users’ photo libraries.

The blog 9to5Mac noted earlier that it’s not just photos and addresses, but movies, calendars and music data too that apps approved to sell in the App Store could gain access to without explicit permission granted by the app downloader.

Many people would probably be uncomfortable knowing that their photos could be sucked up to an app developer’s server without granting specific permission. Apple acts as a watchdog to keep untrustworthy or insecure apps out of its store, but it hasn’t demonstrated the ability to do this with 100 percent accuracy — and it would be unrealistic to expect as much, considering the sheer volume of apps that go through the approval process. So why not spell out these things directly and let users be aware of what is happening on their device, or at least what could potentially happen?

Apple has repeatedly espoused that user privacy is of the utmost importance to the company. At the same time, it likes to balance that with not peppering a user with zillions of pop-up permissions. In cases like this, though, laying out specifically what exactly an app has access to seems like a no-brainer, and entirely welcome.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• Facebook’s IPO filing: ideas and implications
• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

Just now Apple confirmed what had been rumored for weeks: that it will be hosting one of its signature product introduction events on March 7. Without specifically saying they will be discussing the iPad, the invitation hints, “We have something you really have to see. And touch.”

The picture included in the invitation shows what appears to be the bottom dock of an iPad. And as many have observed, the screen resolution looks a good bit sharper than the display of the iPad 2. A hint at the long-expected (and long-wished for) Retina Display?

What else can we expect of the next-generation iPad? Upgraded chips, better cameras, slightly thicker body and perhaps 4G connectivity.

We’ll find out the whole story at the event, which will be held at Apple favorite The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, as reported earlier by AllThingsD.

It starts at 10 a.m. GigaOM, as always, will be there to cover the event live.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• What Amazon’s new Kindle line means for Apple, Netflix and online media
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues

Verizon Wireless announced availability and pricing for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE slate on Tuesday. The thin and light 7.7-inch tablet, Samsung’s first with its Super AMOLED Plus display technology, launches on March 1 for $499 with a new two-year agreement. Verizon requires a minimum $30 monthly LTE plan with 2 GB of data.

Let me preface a rant by saying that I bought a Wi-Fi version of this tablet last month, paying a premium because the device is only available in Asia. I don’t regret the purchase at all and absolutely love the hardware: 1.4 GHz dual-core processor, 7.89 millimeter thickness and a brilliant 1280 x 800 touchscreen that’s probably the best I’ve seen yet in this category. I’ll be happier when the Galaxy Tab 7.7 sees an upgrade to Android 4.0, but even with Android 3.2, it’s my go-to mobile slate and impresses nearly everyone I show it to.

The problem I see is that while I paid a premium, most others won’t. And that’s exactly what the two-year contract with Verizon is: it adds minimum of $720 extra for a data plan that likely replicates the plan they have on a smartphone. Without such a contract, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 might be worth an unsubsidized price of $499, but with one I don’t see it being a big seller.

Others are chiming in, agreeing with me after I tweeted the price and contract information:

@KevinCTofel should be 199 on contract, 500 off contract.—
Brad Sams (@bdsams) February 28, 2012

@kevinctofel AND a contract? that's insane. You can't compete with the iPad pricepoint like that—
Joe Sterne (@MrJoeSterne) February 28, 2012

Joe raises two relevant points in his tweet about the iPad. First, a 7.7-inch slate that comes with 16 GB of internal storage shouldn’t be priced the same as the iPad, a 9.7-inch tablet with the same storage capacity. That is unless it provides some premium features, software, ecosystem or experiences. While I generally prefer Android, I’m willing to bet that average consumers don’t feel that Android tablets offer a premium over the iPad or its supporting ecosystem. Android die-hards will disagree, of course, and I understand that.

Secondly, you can’t buy an Apple iPad with a contract in the U.S. Yes, you can buy an iPad with a 3G radio for a $130 premium, but the data is on a per-use basis, not a contract. That’s how Verizon sells the iPad, and it’s time that it, and other carriers, consider doing the same for Android tablets. It’s great that the Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE can share its 2 GB of monthly data with 10 Wi-Fi devices, but can’t the same generally be said of Verizon’s LTE smartphones, USB sticks and MiFis?

Among many other reasons, this is why I believe Android tablets aren’t selling well. We don’t need multiple connected devices with a data plan for each. Sure, we know that family plans or shared device data plans are coming, but for now, they don’t exist. So a secondary device with a contract simply isn’t as appealing as a contract-free slate or smartphone. It’s that simple.

And shame on Samsung — to a point — here too. When negotiating the deal for the Galaxy Tab 7.7, it should have held its ground and demanded a reasonable contract-free price with the flexibility of 3G/4G data as needed. The company hasn’t done that on any tablet that I know of yet, and this omission isn’t helping sales. Just yesterday, according to CNET, Samsung’s Hankil Yoon, a product strategy executive, told reporters at the Mobile World Congress, “Honestly, we’re not doing very well in the tablet market.”

Honestly, Samsung — and Verizon, for that matter — this situation won’t change until tablets no longer require a two-year contract and offer improved experiences. It’s that simple.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• CES 2012: a recap and analysis
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• Tablet market to hit over 366 million units by 2016

As a daily runner, I use mobile tech to track my exercise so that I can learn more about what training methods are working compared to those that aren’t. Strava is the mobile application I’m currently testing: the free software was first available for iOS and, more recently, launched for Android phones. How well does it work?

What does Strava do?

Overall, the Strava app is great for mapping your running routes through the GPS in your mobile phone. I’ve found the GPS to be very accurate and quick to get a satellite signal. During a run, however, the information available to you is somewhat limited. You get the elapsed time, distance and average pace, which are great, but the bare minimum, if you use iOS or Android.

Missing on the iOS version are any type of audio cues to your pace or distance, for example; something I rely heavily on during my training. And I may be nitpicking, but the distance field only shows miles to the nearest tenth. If I’m running a 5k — which is 3.1 miles — when I see the 3.0 on Strava Run, I’m left wondering how close I am to that last tenth of a mile. Is it seconds away or a full minute? Lastly, I see no way to enter a manual run, such as one from a treadmill, which is used commonly by many who live in colder climates.

Those observations aside, the free app works well for what functionality it does provide. Some runners may not care about the distance measurements in tenths of miles, or they may not want audio cues. This is where personal preferences come into play, and if you don’t care about those functions, Strava Run is great. But it actually gets better after your run.

When you get home

The Strava Run client uploads your running data to your Strava account. On the phone you can see the results of your run: a map, total time, average pace and pace for individual miles, along with the elevation change for each. I don’t yet have a heart-rate monitor, but if I did, Strava would  upload that data too. Strava tracks your equipment used, something I like because I never seem to remember how many miles I have on a pair of shoes. Any segments or achievements on this run are noted as well, but more on that in a bit.

Going to the Strava site provides even more granular data, provided you buy the Premium subscription. Pace and elevation are graphed under a map of the run. Even better, though, are the G.A.P. and pace zone distribution. G.A.P. stands for Grade Adjusted Pace: Strava adjusts your actual pace by taking the elevation gain or drop into account.

For example, I ran the second mile of a recent workout in 7:21. Factoring in the net elevation along that mile — it’s more uphill than down — the G.A.P. is 6:59 because I had to work harder than I would have if the route was flat.

The pace zone distribution is even more helpful, in my opinion. Based on your more recent 5k time, Strava calculates target zones for your running, based on type of training.

This ranges from  slow recovery runs, slightly faster endurance runs, tempo training and all-out effort. I’m now better informed about the pace I need to run on easy days versus the speed I need to run for upcoming races. After each run, Strava calculates how much time you spent on your run in each of these zones; ideally, you’d spend most of your time in one planned zone, depending on what type of training you planned. You can see I was all over the map on this last workout.

Let’s win awards and get social!

Like many other running software, Strava has a social aspect. You can connect to other Strava users, see their activities in your feed, give them “kudos” for a workout and “race” them virtually on the same routes. Strava also keeps track of your personal achievements for various distances: fastest half-mile or mile, for example. The service goes one step further with segments; both for you and other Strava users. You can pick any segment of a run and track times specific to that route.

I thought this was gimmicky at first, but it actually pushed me during my most recent run. The second mile of my five-mile route is a saved segment, and once I got to the starting point, I spontaneously decided to try and beat my prior time. I didn’t plan on running such a pace when starting my run, but knowing a segment was upcoming motivated me to run harder and earn an achievement.

The final lap

So is Strava worth the download? Absolutely, if you don’t mind getting limited information during your run or don’t use a treadmill. The software is free, but for a Premium subscription — $6 per month or $59 a year — you gain the detailed analytics and social aspects. Here’s a comparison of the free versus Premium service. In either case, you can export your running log data if desired.

The social bit is a huge motivator; something I can relate to personally, and it was reiterated during a call I had with Michael Horvath, the co-founder and CEO of Strava. So, are people paying for the Premium plan to add the social aspects? They are, said Horvath. “Nobody buys Premium on day one,” he told me. “But 15 percent of Strava users do upgrade. And when you consider that 40 percent of those who create a Strava account never actually log any activity data, our Premium take-up rate is actually better than 20 percent of the active user base.”

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

The New York Times is out with a story Tuesday that says a “loophole” in Apple’s mobile software allows developers of iOS apps to upload a user’s photo library without specific permission to do so.

According to the story, when a user grants permission to a downloaded app to use the device’s current location, that doesn’t give them permission to access just location, but also the photo library. The Times had a developer create an app called PhotoSpy to test this theory, and it reportedly worked: the app could upload user’s photos, which had been geotagged, giving information to the app about where the photos were taken and when:

When the “PhotoSpy” app was started up, it asked for access to location data. Once this was granted, it began siphoning photos and their location data to a remote server. (The app was not submitted to the App Store.)

Sound familiar? Apple came under fire earlier this month when it was revealed that apps like Path, Instagram, WhatsApp and others were uploading users’ address books to their companies’ servers, and that Apple had never placed a formal restriction or set a required permission for this.

The big difference here, however, is that while apps were actually caught uploading users’ address books to remote servers without users’ knowledge, there have been no confirmed cases of apps that are currently for sale in the App Store uploading users’ photo libraries.

The blog 9to5Mac noted earlier that it’s not just photos and addresses, but movies, calendars and music data too that apps approved to sell in the App Store could gain access to without explicit permission granted by the app downloader.

Many people would probably be uncomfortable knowing that their photos could be sucked up to an app developer’s server without granting specific permission. Apple acts as a watchdog to keep untrustworthy or insecure apps out of its store, but it hasn’t demonstrated the ability to do this with 100 percent accuracy — and it would be unrealistic to expect as much, considering the sheer volume of apps that go through the approval process. So why not spell out these things directly and let users be aware of what is happening on their device, or at least what could potentially happen?

Apple has repeatedly espoused that user privacy is of the utmost importance to the company. At the same time, it likes to balance that with not peppering a user with zillions of pop-up permissions. In cases like this, though, laying out specifically what exactly an app has access to seems like a no-brainer, and entirely welcome.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Facebook’s IPO filing: ideas and implications
• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

Just now Apple confirmed what had been rumored for weeks: that it will be hosting one of its signature product introduction events on March 7. Without specifically saying they will be discussing the iPad, the invitation hints, “We have something you really have to see. And touch.”

The picture included in the invitation shows what appears to be the bottom dock of an iPad. And as many have observed, the screen resolution looks a good bit sharper than the display of the iPad 2. A hint at the long-expected (and long-wished for) Retina Display?

What else can we expect of the next-generation iPad? Upgraded chips, better cameras, slightly thicker body and perhaps 4G connectivity.

We’ll find out the whole story at the event, which will be held at Apple favorite The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, as reported earlier by AllThingsD.

It starts at 10 a.m. GigaOM, as always, will be there to cover the event live.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• What Amazon’s new Kindle line means for Apple, Netflix and online media
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues

Verizon Wireless announced availability and pricing for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE slate on Tuesday. The thin and light 7.7-inch tablet, Samsung’s first with its Super AMOLED Plus display technology, launches on March 1 for $499 with a new two-year agreement. Verizon requires a minimum $30 monthly LTE plan with 2 GB of data.

Let me preface a rant by saying that I bought a Wi-Fi version of this tablet last month, paying a premium because the device is only available in Asia. I don’t regret the purchase at all and absolutely love the hardware: 1.4 GHz dual-core processor, 7.89 millimeter thickness and a brilliant 1280 x 800 touchscreen that’s probably the best I’ve seen yet in this category. I’ll be happier when the Galaxy Tab 7.7 sees an upgrade to Android 4.0, but even with Android 3.2, it’s my go-to mobile slate and impresses nearly everyone I show it to.

The problem I see is that while I paid a premium, most others won’t. And that’s exactly what the two-year contract with Verizon is: it adds minimum of $720 extra for a data plan that likely replicates the plan they have on a smartphone. Without such a contract, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 might be worth an unsubsidized price of $499, but with one I don’t see it being a big seller.

Others are chiming in, agreeing with me after I tweeted the price and contract information:

@KevinCTofel should be 199 on contract, 500 off contract.—
Brad Sams (@bdsams) February 28, 2012

@kevinctofel AND a contract? that's insane. You can't compete with the iPad pricepoint like that—
Joe Sterne (@MrJoeSterne) February 28, 2012

Joe raises two relevant points in his tweet about the iPad. First, a 7.7-inch slate that comes with 16 GB of internal storage shouldn’t be priced the same as the iPad, a 9.7-inch tablet with the same storage capacity. That is unless it provides some premium features, software, ecosystem or experiences. While I generally prefer Android, I’m willing to bet that average consumers don’t feel that Android tablets offer a premium over the iPad or its supporting ecosystem. Android die-hards will disagree, of course, and I understand that.

Secondly, you can’t buy an Apple iPad with a contract in the U.S. Yes, you can buy an iPad with a 3G radio for a $130 premium, but the data is on a per-use basis, not a contract. That’s how Verizon sells the iPad, and it’s time that it, and other carriers, consider doing the same for Android tablets. It’s great that the Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE can share its 2 GB of monthly data with 10 Wi-Fi devices, but can’t the same generally be said of Verizon’s LTE smartphones, USB sticks and MiFis?

Among many other reasons, this is why I believe Android tablets aren’t selling well. We don’t need multiple connected devices with a data plan for each. Sure, we know that family plans or shared device data plans are coming, but for now, they don’t exist. So a secondary device with a contract simply isn’t as appealing as a contract-free slate or smartphone. It’s that simple.

And shame on Samsung — to a point — here too. When negotiating the deal for the Galaxy Tab 7.7, it should have held its ground and demanded a reasonable contract-free price with the flexibility of 3G/4G data as needed. The company hasn’t done that on any tablet that I know of yet, and this omission isn’t helping sales. Just yesterday, according to CNET, Samsung’s Hankil Yoon, a product strategy executive, told reporters at the Mobile World Congress, “Honestly, we’re not doing very well in the tablet market.”

Honestly, Samsung — and Verizon, for that matter — this situation won’t change until tablets no longer require a two-year contract and offer improved experiences. It’s that simple.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• CES 2012: a recap and analysis
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• Tablet market to hit over 366 million units by 2016

The mobile world got another reminder over the weekend that the whims of Apple’s App Store review process can make or break a mobile business. In a span of about 48 hours, Evi, a voice-recognition app that has a few things in common with Apple’s Siri, was headed for the App Store’s trash bin on Friday for being a little too similar to Siri before Apple abruptly reversed course.

TechCrunch first noted on Sunday that Evi had been flagged by Apple’s reviewers as “confusingly similar” to Siri, with True Knowledge, the company behind the app, having received notice late Friday that their app would be pulled from the App Store. True Knowledge had submitted a minor update to Evi that had languished in App Store review purgatory with no explanation for some time until Apple finally contacted the company about the update on Friday.

William Tunstall-Pedoe, CEO of True Knowledge, told TechCrunch that “I don’t think it takes too much of a leap of the imagination to realize that ‘confusingly similar’ is code for ‘competitive with’.” He went onto imply that Apple was worried about reviews of Evi–a natural language search engine that is a bit more sophisticated than Siri on certain queries–making the $199 iPhone 4S less compelling than the $99 iPhone 4, on which Siri is no longer allowed to run.

But after popular sentiment turned against Apple over the weekend, True Knowledge received a call from Apple reversing that ruling in the wee hours of Monday morning in Barcelona, where they were preparing for Mobile World Congress, sources familiar with the saga told GigaOm. Evi remains in the App Store, as noted earlier by The Verge, and Apple now plans to work with True Knowledge on creating a version of Evi that satisfies Apple’s concerns.

Sources familiar with the back-and-forth said that at this point Apple told True Knowledge it just wants the company to change the user interface of the app, rather than its basic functionality. And Apple also confirmed to the company that voice-driven search and voice-driven personal assistant features (setting up appointments and the like, planned for a future release of Evi) are fair game for outside developers within the iOS developer rules.

It’s unclear whether Apple really does mean that only cosmetic changes are necessary, or whether it’s just setting True Knowledge up with another series of hoops. Evi is similar to Siri in that it takes voice commands and returns search results, but Evi is actually the result of a True Knowledge “pivot” (read: now what are we going to do?) from a Web search company to a mobile-focused company. True Knowledge has curated hundreds of millions of facts and serves those up in response to queries, using (like Siri) Nuance’s technology to translate speech into machine-understandable queries.

Once you enter the mobile world, you find yourself having to play by Apple’s rules. Perhaps the most famous example was the showdown between Apple and Google over Google Voice, which Apple believed was confusingly similar enough to the main iPhone dialer as to restrict it from the App Store. A federal investigation led to its eventual approval and an acknowledgement from Apple that it needed to be more permissive when it came to potentially competitive apps.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro
• Virtual Worlds: Trends and Opportunities

After Dropbox made it easier to move digital photos from smartphones to the cloud on Friday, the debate as to whether Dropbox itself is the next big disruptor or just a feature to be acquired or co-opted flared anew. The debate boils down to whether the web needs a neutral storage service that works pretty well with all the major technology platforms or if ease of use and synching is paramount.

By all accounts, Dropbox provides a slick way to upload and store digital paraphernalia in the cloud. From there, users can access their stuff from any device and sync files across devices. The service has been hugely popular: As of four months ago, Dropbox claimed more than 45 million users. But the success of the five-year-old company has bred imitators and competitors, including the biggest companies in tech.

The new private camera upload feature will let users take their photos as always but then easily move them from smartphone, tablet, camera or SD card to their cloud data trove using Wi-Fi or their cellular data plans. Dropbox uploads the photos and videos in their original size and full resolution to the user’s camera upload location. The feature is available now for Android phones with Windows, Mac and iOS support to come, Dropbox said.

Hardware makers hedge with Dropbox

This is one example of how Dropbox is trying to stay ahead of the curve and make itself an indispensable tool for connected consumers. In that, it has some formidable partners. Just this weekend at the Mobile World Congress, HTC said buyers of its new HTC One phones will get 25 gigabytes of Dropbox storage free for two years. Handset makers like HTC see Dropbox alliances as a way to combat Apple’s iCloud initiative.

Dropbox’s popularity has certainly been noted. Companies from Microsoft to Apple and (probably) Google are trying to mimic its capabilities. “Everyone wants to be Dropbox,” Andres Rodriguez, the CEO of storage specialist Nasuni, told me recently. Steve Jobs, the late CEO of Apple, reportedly wanted to buy the company. When that didn’t work out, Jobs called Dropbox “a feature, not a company”  and launched iCloud.

That “feature versus company” meme has dogged Dropbox ever since and cropped up again this weekend when PandoDaily’s Farhad Manjoo weighed in on Jobs’ side of the debate:

Dropbox is a great little file-syncing app, and founder Drew Houston and crew are already making some nice money out of it. But is it a $40 billion company? I doubt it. And when I hear folks like Benchmark’s Bill Gurley suggesting that it might be, and calling Dropbox “a major disruption,” I wonder if they’ve simply been blinded by the thrill of using an obviously well-crafted utility.

Dropbox is slick, and it supports nearly all the relevant clients. But in Manjoo’s experience, that support is uneven. Dropbox is often flummoxed by OS- and application-level problems, he wrote.

But any neutral party without access to Apple’s native hardware hooks will be somewhat stymied. Plus, that only takes into account some of Dropbox’s value, argues Posterous co-founder and venture capitalist Garry Tan. On his blog, Tan writes that the tech giants (Google, Apple, Microsoft) that make their own OSes and applications have no incentive to make them sync well with others.

What are the odds of Apple getting their sync client right for PC’s? Just about zero, considering what they’ve done in the past with MobileMe sync.

Same goes for Microsoft writing sync software for the Apple platform. Arguably Google is in the best shape to provide a seamless multiplatform experience . . . well, except for iOS! The odds of a viable multi-platform option emerging from one of these big three seem slim to me.

Those who forget history . . .

The cautionary tale for Dropbox is that the best technology doesn’t always win. (I would insert the Betamax vs. VHS argument here, but no one remembers it anymore.) Should Microsoft, Apple or Google offer at least reasonably good cross-platform file storage and sync capabilities, Dropbox will be in trouble. Working in Dropbox’s favor is that CEO Drew Houston appears acutely aware of history.

According to this Forbes magazine account, when Apple announced iCloud, Houston shot off a memo to employees, reaffirming the company’s status as one of the fastest-growing companies in the world. Then he listed several other once-fast-growing companies: MySpace, Netscape, Palm and Yahoo.

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