Zoom is selling ticketed virtual events and offering its own mini programs with OnZoom and Zapps
- The new OnZoom platform lets event creators sell access to workshops, concerts and more as the world goes virtual in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic
- Zapps, a concept similar to WeChat’s mini programs, lets users launch popular services like Dropbox and Trello from within the platform
Zoom has two new weapons in its fight against competitors like Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. The company announced a new events platform called OnZoom and mini programs called Zapps that can be launched from within Zoom itself.
Video communications company unveiled the new products during its three-day online conference called Zoomtopia, which concluded on Friday. The announcements come as Zoom has been facing both skyrocketing growth during the Covid-19 pandemic and increased scrutiny over security issues and concerns about censorship.
OnZoom will allow users to host virtual events up to 1,000 people. Users can search for events to join on the platform, with options that include fitness classes, concerts and stand-up comedy. One of Zoom’s first partners for the new platform is WW International, formerly known as Weight Watchers, which will hold workshops on Zoom.
The platform gives creators a potential new revenue stream as many public venues remain closed because of the coronavirus. Creators of OnZoom events can charge for access using either credit cards or PayPal.
The other big announcement was that people can now use popular productivity apps like Dropbox and Trello without ever leaving Zoom. The apps-within-apps concept looks similar to what some mobile platforms like Tencent Holdings’ WeChat offer through mini programs.
But Zoom is not calling them mini programs, instead dubbing them Zapps. The company has 35 partners for Zapps so far, including Asana, SurveyMonkey, Coursera and Zendesk.