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Zoom May Launch Email And Calendar Apps, Refusing To Be Forgotten

Video conferencing platform, Zoom has a new year’s resolution. Reportedly, the company is looking to create more direct competition with Google and Microsoft with its own email product.

Zoom is said to be developing its own web-based email service and may launch an accompanying calendar tool. The email service is set to be launched in early 2021. Sources didn’t reveal much information about the calendar, though they did divulge a few details about the company’s ambitions.

Many of Zoom’s major competitors are video conferencing platforms bundled as part of broader enterprise app suites, with the two biggest ones belonging to Microsoft with its Office 365 platform and Google with its competing Workspace bundle. Both of those platforms offer calendar, email, and videoconferencing products, so it makes sense Zoom would look to email and calendar apps to try to round out its offerings and make Zoom less of a single-purpose platform.

There are other signs that the company is interested in building a full enterprise app suite, including job postings for “exciting chat features” and its existing integrations with other apps like Asana and Dropbox. But there is always the possibility the company decides to wait and see how the shift back to office work affects businesses and whether remote work remains a prominent factor well into the future.

In 2020, Zoom came out as one of the biggest winners in tech. Its stock price rose more than 500% due to an unprecedented surge in remote work caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Expanding into email and launching a calendar will allow Zoom to build on this momentum and ensure the company remains a household name even after the pandemic.

And it’s clear that Zoom is seriously assessing how it fits into a world where remote work changes as employees return to offices with the proliferation of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, 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.

Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering at Zoom said, “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 getaway for engaging the wider APAC region.”