In addition to its phased approach to rolling out an end-to-end encryption offering to better secure calls, Zoom announced several new products and features during its fourth annual Zoomtopia.
The event, held virtually this year, comes as the platform is experiencing a gargantuan increase in users due to the COVID-19 pandemic and remote work. That surge helped to increase the company’s stock price more than 700% since the start of the year as usage skyrocketed in the spring.
According to Zoom, the platform now sees well over 300 million daily meeting participants, including more than 125,000 schools that are currently using the platform for free.
The new features include an online events platform, customizable SDK, new apps, UCC enhancements, new hardware and more.
Virtual Events
OnZoom is the company’s new online event platform that allows Zoom users to create and host free, paid and fundraising events. The company officially released the beta version Wednesday.
It allows customers to monetize events like fitness classes, concerts, performances and music lessons over Zoom. Users can schedule and host one-time events, list and sell tickets, share and promote public events via email and social media and reach new audiences beyond the local area.
OnZoom also includes a directory of public events for which users can sign up via a credit card or PayPal account. Read more about this offering in a Zoom blog post.
For Developers
Zoom is also adding new enhancements to its software development kits and is enabling developers and customers to enrich their own custom video-based applications with Zoom’s platform on Android, iOS and the web. Developers will have access to a customizable user interface and session control. The company offers more details in a blog post.
Zoom is also introducing Zapps, workflow and productivity apps to use within Zoom platforms. This offering is designed to limit switching between Zoom and other apps throughout the course of the day, which is now filled with a litany of different mission-critical apps.
To start, Zapps will include partners like Slack, Asana, Dropbox, Coursera, Cameo, Smartsheet, HubSpot, ServiceNow and others. The first Zapps will be available by the end of the year and open to developers shortly after, the company said in a blog.
UC, Zoom Rooms, Hardware
The company also announced several new functionalities for its unified communications platform and Zoom Room experiences, including immersive scenes, new devices like the DTEN ME, enhanced voice command options for Zoom Rooms, whiteboarding enhancements, smart gallery, audio enhancements and more.
“Zoom is for you, our courageous, hardworking, and creative community of users, and so is Zoomtopia. We have been working hard to create a world-class, value-filled virtual event. We have also been planning, preparing, and delivering on the promise of Zoom to best serve you,” said Yuan.
“One thing we’ve learned in this challenging time is that remote work does work. The future will bring a hybrid of the best of in-person and virtual communications. The announcements we make today at Zoomtopia demonstrate that Zoom is built for this moment and beyond. We have the platform to support what the world needs – today, tomorrow, and well into the future.”
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