Spurred by accelerated use amid the coronavirus pandemic, Zoom is considering the integration of calendar and email tools to better compete with Microsoft and Google, The Verge reported on Wednesday (Dec. 23), citing the Information.
This year, the Silicon Valley video conferencing startup saw its stock soar over 500 percent due to the pandemic-fueled surge in remote work and school. Zoom could start trialing an email tool sometime in 2021, with a calendar app sometime later.
Zoom’s main rivals — Microsoft and Google — have multi-use platforms with a wider selection of tools that go beyond video conferencing.
The company announced in a press release earlier this month that it was expanding its presence in Singapore by opening a research and development (R&D) center. R&D centers already exist in the U.S., India and China.
“Singapore is pro-business, ranks as one of the friendliest countries to set up a company, and continues to be a favorite for regional headquarters as it boasts exceptional talent, strong infrastructure, and is a perfect gateway for engaging the wider APAC region,” Velchamy Sankarlingam, president of product and engineering at Zoom, said in the release.
The workplace messaging app Slack saw first quarter revenues in June accelerate due to increased use of the platform amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Silicon Valley startup saw revenue hit $201.7 million, up 50 percent over the same period in 2019.
Slack’s results followed Zoom’s reported Q1 revenue acceleration of 169 percent to $328.2 million, up from $122 million from the same quarter in 2019.
Zoom decided in August to expand use to smart devices and other channels as the pandemic continued to keep most people working and learning from home. The use of its technology was extended to Facebook’s Portal, Amazon Echo Show and Google Nest Hub Max.
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