There's also the Sync API, which emerged last February and is designed to simplify syncing files to Dropbox by handling caching and 'network flakiness.' There's the Dropbox Chooser for Web, unveiled in 2012, which is a lightweight UI component designed to provide instant access to Dropbox files via Web apps with a few lines of HTML. There's the Core API, rolled out in 2010, with which developers can integrate Dropbox into their application. The Dropbox Platform is composed of both (relatively) old and new components. The goal is to equip developers with the tools, information, and support they need to build apps that support Dropbox.

That's where the Dropbox Platform - as well as the DBX conference - comes in. Rival content-sharing service Box, for example, is making a similar push, most recently unveiling a program called Box $rev through which developers can earn extra revenue based on how much Box customers use their apps. However, Dropbox isn't alone in trying to win over the hearts, minds, and coding skills of developers. For that to happen, however, the company needs to convince developers to build quality apps to support its service. Naturally, Dropbox wants to provide the cloud-based storage for mobile and desktop apps to sync and access those files, thereby making its service an integral part of the increasingly lucrative app economy. The platform fits in with the company's vision of a computing world where users sync their files among devices via the cloud, rather than relying on stodgy old hard drives. At its first-ever developers conference, DBX, Dropbox officially unveiled the Dropbox Platform, a suite of tools for building apps capable of seamlessly accessing files and data from the Dropbox cloud, regardless of location or device.

Dropbox developer documentation