Zoom To Bring Own Email App Called Zmail To Compete With Gmail

Zoom is working to introduce its own email app and calendar apps, in a bid to fend off competition from Google and Microsoft

Zoom plans to debut its own email and calendar services soon. Image: Getty

In a bid to stay afloat amid growing competition from other video conferencing apps and tech giants Google and Microsoft, Zoom is working to introduce its own email app and calendar apps, the media has reported. Zoom's email app and calendar app are likely to be called Zmail and Zcal, respectively.

It should be noted that Zoom is a very popular video conferencing app, but thousands of Zoom users do video calls on the platform by clicking on the appointment links from email services and digital calendars that are run by tech giants Microsoft and Google. This poses stiff competition for Zoom itself which doesn't have its own email app or calendar services, according to a report in The Information.

Hoping to stop its customers from jumping ship to those products, Zoom plans to debut its own email and calendar services, possibly as soon as its Zoomtopia conference for customers in November, the report added citing a person with direct knowledge of the company's plans.

Earlier this month, the video conferencing platform announced that it is now renaming Zoom Chat to Zoom Team Chat to enhance teamwork and collaboration. The platform added that it has already made significant investments in Zoom Team Chat's capabilities, and it will unveil even more enhancements later this month.

"Our comprehensive platform makes it easy for people to connect across places, spaces, and devices, so work is, well, less work. Central to the success of our platform is our persistent team collaboration and messaging hub," the company had written in a blog post.

"We used to call it Zoom Chat. As of today, we are officially renaming it Zoom Team Chat, to usher in the future of persistent messaging and further enhance teamwork and collaboration," the company had added.

Zoom also mentioned that Team Chat extends beyond instant messaging. It is a powerful collaboration hub that leverages 1:1 and group chats as well as channels to integrate workstreams, keep projects on track, and connect stakeholders. Team Chat brings together messaging, file sharing, third-party integrations, video, voice, and whiteboard in one place to simplify how you collaborate.

When you need to elevate a chat conversation to a phone or video call or share an idea via whiteboard, you can do so at the touch of a button right in Zoom Team Chat, the company said.