The company will launch 35 Zapps later this year, with partners including Dropbox, Salesforce, and Slack. Zoom also expects education to enhance virtual learning, which could be particularly timely as a return to lockdowns loom over Europe and the US.
On Wednesday, the company also announced the launch of OnZoom, a platform that will enable the company to host and charge for events. Consumers can use OnZoom to browse and attend classes, concerts, and workshops.
Zoom wants to position itself as a marketplace for immersive experiences, and is aimed at anyone who wants to host small events of up to 100 people, or larger events of up to 1,000 participants. Anyone can schedule a one-time event, such as a concert, or a regular series, like dance or exercise classes, as well as sell tickets directly through Zoom.
Zoom’s interactive nature should enable more immersive experiences than currently available on existing one-way platforms such as YouTube. The ability to communicate in real time will open greater possibilities for chat, reactions, and question-and-answer type features for those events.
“Zoom won’t initially be taking a cut of event revenue,” said Wei Li, head of platform and AI at Zoom, but indicarted that this could be an avenue it pursues in the future.