Box for Android Goes International, Includes 50GB Free Storage

Box has upgraded its Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android software with collaboration features and support for several European languages, and is offering 50GB of free file sharing and storage for users.

Box provides collaboration and storage services in the cloud, allowing users to share files across multiple computers, tablets and smartphones.

The startup, which has more than 8 million users, spanning over 100,000 businesses, competes with Dropbox and increasingly with Google, which is reportedly launching a Google Drive cloud storage service this year.

While those cloud purveyors focus on consumers, Box targets enterprises. In fact, more than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies are using Box software, which also integrates with Google Apps, NetSuite and Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) through APIs.

Box has offered applications for Apple’s iPhone and iPads and Android phones and tablets for a couple years, and while Apple’s devices have performed well in the enterprise, the company sees some green field ahead for Android devices.

“Android matters to us because we bring Box to whatever devices are showing up in the enterprise. We’re not tied to any particular platform,” Matt Self, vice president of the platform development engineering group at Box, told eWEEK.

Today’s Android upgrade, version 1.6, sports a new user interface based on the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) user interface, including a new Action Bar on phones and tablets.

The new Android app also boasts the ability to comment on files and invite collaborators to folders, and allows users to upload multiple files in batches from a Secure Digital (SD) card.

Box is also looking to significantly boost international support, a weak area for the company to date. The refreshed Box for Android app offers localized language support for French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more languages coming.

Self said 40 percent of Box€™s more than 8 million users are located outside the U.S., making it crucial that Box accelerate its international growth.

Finally, all users who grab the new Box for Android app by March 23 will receive 50GB of free file sharing and storage for the lifetime of their Box account.

Current Box users who want their 50 free GBs must update Box for Android 1.6 and log in from their Android smartphone or tablet. New users will need to sign up for a Box account from their Android device.

Box for Android 1.6 is available in the Android Market, Amazon Appstore, LG World, Verizon Store and Nook Store.