Zoomtopia 2020: Zoom launches events marketplace OnZoom and native app store Zapps
Zoom has unveiled two new products at its annual user conference. OnZoom and Zapps signal the enterprise tech company's product expansion.
Zoom, arguably the hottest tech company of 2020, is diversifying its portfolio.
At Zoomtopia 2020, its 4th annual user conference, the video communications platform unveiled two new products — OnZoom (a marketplace for immersive virtual events and experiences) and Zapps (an integrated app store within Zoom).
Zoom has rolled out the beta versions of these services in the US. The products will see a global launch in 2021, the company revealed.
The Silicon Valley-based startup believes the new products will address the emerging demands in remote event and workflow management.
"We were humbled and inspired by all the amazing ways the world adapted to a literal shutdown of in-person events. When business owners, entrepreneurs, and organisations of all sizes had to find some way to stay the course during COVID-19 and continue providing services to their customers, many turned to Zoom," it stated.
OnZoom: An events marketplace
OnZoom is an events discovery marketplace that lets Zoom's enterprise users create, host, and sell tickets for virtual and hybrid experiences across categories such as Education & Family, Entertainment & Visual Arts, Food & Drink, Fitness & Health, Community & Spirituality, Sports, and more.
Event hosts can create immersive experiences, deliver them seamlessly over Zoom Video, reach new audiences, engage with them better, and manage and track activity.
OnZoom is for large and small businesses and micro-entrepreneurs who can:
● Schedule and host one-time or recurring events for upto 1,000 attendees
● Securely list and sell tickets; track sales and monetisation
● Share and promote public events via email and social media
● Reach new audiences beyond a business geographical location
OnZoom Beta
Regular (free) Zoom users, on the other hand, can discover everything from yoga classes and music concerts to cooking tutorials and comedy shows on the platform.
They can log into OnZoom to search for public events, buy tickets, pay securely through PayPal and other credit cards, purchase, and gift OnZoom tickets to their friends or family, natively raise funds for non-profits, and also like, share, and rate events listed on OnZoom.
Aleks Swerdlow, Product Manager at Zoom Video, described OnZoom as "an essential extension of Zoom’s unified communications platform".
"In short, we’ve added event discovery and monetisation features to our industry-leading video platform to simplify how you adapt traditionally in-person events (free or paid) into engaging online experiences," she stated.
Zapps: App store within Zoom
Zapps are essentially apps integrated within the Zoom platform to boost workplace productivity and enable seamless real-time collaboration. The tool is placed in the Zoom interface, and users can access it through the 'Zapps' icon on the menu bar.
It offers remote workers the "best-of-breed applications" to improve workflow, access documents freely, schedule and track meetings, scan through meeting recordings, and collaborate more effectively.
Zapps is almost an app store native to Zoom. It enables third-party developers to create and distribute apps that enhance the Zoom meeting experience.
At launch, Zapps is being built by 35 partners, including Asana, Atlassian, Box, Coda, Coursera, Docket, Dropbox, Hubspot, Kahoot, LucidSpark, Pitch, Remix Labs, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, Superhuman, SurveyMonkey, Thrive Global, WW, Zendesk, and more.
Zapps has 35 launch partners and is available in the US
Zapps is being touted as the "next generation of collaborative app distribution, adoption, and engagement" that will transform SaaS workflows and productivity.
Ross Mayfield, Product Lead, Integrations at Zoom, said in a statement,
"The 'best of breed' strategy is an increasingly popular approach when it comes to choosing and supporting today’s workplace applications. Its effectiveness is limited, however, if your team members can’t access their apps where, when, and how they need them. We’re introducing Zapps to change that."
"The first Zapps will be distributed in Zoom by the end of the year and open to developers shortly thereafter. All Zoom users (free and paid) will have access to these features," he added.
Users can search Zapps and integrate them directly into their Zoom accounts. Like on other app stores, developers have to submit Zapps to Zoom for testing, approval, hosting, and publishing.
Edited by Megha Reddy