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Zoom, the video conferencing company, is reportedly working on web-based applications for email and calendars in the latest expansion of its offerings.
Dream time
Zoom Video Communications
in recent months, it has made a constant effort to expand its product list, adding conference room software (Zoom Rooms), cloud-based telephony (Zoom Phone) and an event market (OnZoom).
And now Zoom (ticker: ZM) is planning to enter the email and calendar software market.
According to The Information, Zoom has started to develop a web-based email service “and may offer an initial version of the product to some customers next year”. The story is attributed to “two people with direct knowledge of the subject”. The report also says that Zoom is “studying” the construction of a calendar application and considering the development of corporate directory software.
The story states that Zoom CEO Eric Yuan is considering expanding the company’s core offering to include a complete set of communication tools, including email, messaging and productivity tools – a move that would put the company in direct competition with both
Microsoft
(MSFT) and
Alphabetin
(GOOGL) Google.
Zoom declined to comment on the report.
The Covid-19 pandemic sparked an explosion in the use of videoconferencing in 2020, and Zoom has been a big beneficiary of the trend – revenue in the company’s most recent quarter grew by 367%. But investors are beginning to ask tough questions about how the company will perform in 2021, with competition increasing and many students and knowledge workers are likely to return to classrooms and offices sometime next year.
The cloud-based communications market is getting crowded. Microsoft has aggressively boosted Teams, a unified communications package that includes messaging, video and other tools that comes with its Office 365 productivity suite. And Google has a large user base of Gmail, Google Docs and Google Hangouts. (This is what Barron’s users, along with
Slack Technologies
(WORKS).)
Meanwhile,
RingCentral
(RNG) recently unveiled a new combined video and collaboration tool called Glip, offering the free service for up to 100 users.
Cisco Systems
(CSCO) overhauled WebEx, adding new collaboration features. Of course,
Salesforce.com
(CRM) recently agreed to pay $ 27.7 billion in cash and shares for Slack.
Zoom’s stock on Wednesday fell 5.9% to $ 384.91. While stocks are still up more than 460% in the year so far, Zoom’s stock has retreated about $ 200 from its peak in October, losing about 35% of its value.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]