Right. And, actually, some people who "cheat" might help Dropbox even more. It used to be quite a common "trick" to pay for Google Ads that link to your personal Dropbox referral link.
Re:New Dropbox Pro plans
by lifeformed on Wednesday July 11, 2012 @10:57AM
(#4229480)
Or the old, "refer-a-bunch-of-fake-accounts-and-activate-them-each-on-a-VM" cheat.
User acquisition costs for a product like Dropbox can be fairly significant, especially if you're going toe-to-toe with everybody else in Google.
On the other hand, a gig of storage borders on free for Dropbox, but the marginal utility of that storage is pretty significant for the user, providing a strong motivation to actively recommend (an admittedly excellent) service to their friends.
You get more storage for 'free', Dropbox saves a bucket of money on advertising. It's genius.