The video conferencing service Zoom, after the recent success, had planned to launch a direct competitor to Google’s Gmail and Microsoft’s Office, by introducing a Email and Calendar service.
This year Zoom saw the company stock price increase by over 500 percent. Zoom was clearly one of the biggest tech winners of 2020 thanks to its easy video calls, and it now appears eager to translate that success elsewhere. The Information’s sources claim Zoom is developing an email service and considering a matching calendar app. You might see a “very early” email offering in 2021, the tipsters said. The company is reportedly exploring a calendar app, too.
The email technology would aim for a “next generation” experience rather than simply replicating what you already know, according to the sources. Both that and the calendar are said to be in the early stages and aren’t guaranteed to move forward.
If the leak is accurate, Zoom is hoping to create a whole platform where video calls, email and productivity tools like messaging work together.
The company has declined to comment.
It wouldn’t be a shocking move. Zoom may be a buzzworthy company now, but it knows its popularity might fade as people (hopefully) return to offices and competing services like Google Meet and Microsoft Teams potentially gain more traction. Email and other services could give you a reason to stick around long after the pandemic is over.
The challenge, of course, is the size of its rivals. Gmail and Outlook are heavyweights in email, with giant user bases and tight integration with a host of other services. Zoom has less experience with email than Google and Microsoft do with video calling — it’s not guaranteed to win people over, even if its current app was part of the 2020 cultural zeitgeist.
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