You might know Zoom for its videoconferencing solution that became wildly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, but as we start taking on more in-person commitments, videoconferencing isn’t as essential. Now, Zoom is branching out.

At its “Zoomtopia” event, Zoom announced that new email and calendar clients will be joining the company’s existing videoconferencing solution. Those solutions and clients will apparently be closely tied to a user’s Zoom platform rather than being something anyone can send stuff to, like a Gmail address, but you’ll also be able to use your existing Gmail/Outlook accounts with that Zoom client. Features include the ability to create a unique customer domain and send end-to-end encrypted messages.

Email and calendar are not the first non-videoconferencing ventures by Zoom, as the company has branched out into areas like sales intelligence and phone services. This new push is a much bigger deal, though — it shows Zoom wants to become the next Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, not just a videoconferencing tool.

If you want to use any of these two clients with your existing email account, you can do so for free regardless of whether you’re in the free tier or not. But if you want Zoom to provide email services for you, you’ll need at least a Zoom One Pro tier subscription.

Source: TechCrunch