I simply don't believe this story. If you have $100+ million to throw at as fundamentally simple a product as Dropbox is, you have more than enough to make a good clone of it.
It's not like Jobs can deny it now.
It's not like Jobs can deny it now.
You are being naive if you think that given enough money, you can clone any product. That's simply false, especially for large orgs where more money invested towards a project can even become more of a problem than aid.
Hint: lots of companies that aren't five guys and a GitHub account produce software. Apple is one of them, and DropBox isn't that mysterious a product.
Personally, if I had that kind of money to throw around, I'd want it now, so I can start implementing my vision now.
Don't take the numbers here too literally, 3 years might only be 1 year. I highly doubt it'd be less than that, given Apple's size.
Why would Apple (or any other OS company) be in a hurry to get this product?