Reliance launches unlimited free conferencing app JioMeet as competition to Zoom

Reliance launches unlimited free conferencing app JioMeet as competition to Zoom

New Delhi: After raising billions of dollars from the likes of Facebook and Intel for its digital business, billionaire Mukesh Ambani”s Reliance Industries has launched JioMeet video conferencing app with unlimited free calling that is being seen as rate war on rival Zoom.

The JioMeet video conferencing app is available across Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and web since Thursday evening after beta testing.

According to the company website, JioMeet supports HD audio and video call quality with up to 100 participants and offers features like screen sharing, meeting schedule feature and more.

But unlike Zoom, it does not impose a 40-minute time limit. Calls can go on as long as 24 hours, and all meetings are encrypted and password-protected, the company said.

Based on USD 15 per month charge for meetings of more than 40 minutes on Zoom (USD 180 on annual basis), JioMeet is providing the same functionality and more free of cost, translating into Rs 13,500 savings for a host per year, company sources said.

According to app features listed on Google Play Store, JioMeet offers easy sign up with either mobile number or e-mail ID and allows creation of instant meeting.

The meeting in HD audio and video quality can be scheduled in advance and details shared with invitees, it said, adding JioMeet allows unlimited meetings per day with each meeting going uninterrupted for up to 24 hours.

Each meeting is password protected and the host can enable ”Waiting Room” to ensure no participant joins without permission. It also allows creation of groups and starting calling/chatting on a single click.

Other features include ”Safe Driving Mode” while driving, multi-device login support for up to five devices and seamless switching from one device to other while on call.

The app, which has already seen more than 5 lakh downloads on the Google Play Store and iOS, comes amid the government imposing a ban on 59 popular Chinese apps including TikTok on grounds that they threatened national security and data privacy.

The app was launched a day before Reliance announced fund raising from stake sale in Jio Platforms which has now totalled Rs 1.17 lakh crore from 11 investors, ranging from Facebook to Intel Capital.

Company sources said no restriction on time limit on JioMeet means teachers will not be required to cut short their classes as they are forced to do on Zoom. Also, the app allows national and international seminars as well as hosting of cultural and social events.

Unlike Zoom where users cannot expand a participant”s video, JioMeet meetings users can expand any participant”s video or shared screen”s video by a double tap.

Also, JioMeet has two advanced meeting settings over and above Zoom options. First, it allows participants only from the host”s organisation. If enabled, only users from the host”s organsation can join that meeting, eliminating potential snoops from other IDs.

Secondly, it does not allow guest users — if enabled, every user will be required to sign up before joining the meeting hence restricting anonymous users from joining the call.

Unlike Zoom, JioMeet users can switch from one device to another without dropping out of the call. Zoom allows sign up only with e-mail ID while JioMeet allows sign up with e-mail and mobile number.

Inside the call, Zoom shows four participants at a time on a single mobile screen (for others, users need to scroll through multiple pages). JioMeet allows nine active participants on a single mobile screen.

Zoom booms as pandemic drives millions to its video service

Zoom booms as pandemic drives millions to its video service

San Roman: Zoom Video Communications is rapidly emerging as the latest internet gold mine as millions of people flock to its conferencing service to see colleagues, friends, and family while tethered to their homes during the pandemic.

Tuesday’s release of the once-obscure company’s financial results for the February-April period provided a window into the astronomical growth that has turned it into a Wall Street star.

Zoom’s revenue for its fiscal first-quarter more than doubled from the same time last year to $328 million, resulting in a profit of $27 million up from just $198,000 a year ago.

The numbers exceeded analysts’ already heightened expectations, providing another lift to a rocketing stock that has more than tripled in price so far this year while the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 indexes have fallen 5%.

After a big run-up leading up to Tuesday’s highly anticipated announcement, Zoom’s stock initially rose even higher in extended trading. But it abruptly reversed course and fell more than 3% after company executives acknowledged during a video discussion that some of its newfound users might depart during the second half of the year if health worries caused by the novel coronavirus dissipate.

Even if the shares trade in a similar fashion during Wednesday’s regular session, the stock will still be hovering around $200 more than five times the company’s initial public offering price of $36 less than 14 months ago.

The surge left Zoom with a market value of about $59 billion through Tuesday — greater than the combined market values of the four largest U.S. airlines, which have seen their businesses hammered by the coronavirus outbreak that has dramatically curtailed travel.

“Videoconferencing is going to become a mainstream service,” predicted Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, who co-founded the company nine years ago. He made the remarks during the video conference that at one point attracted more than 3,000 participants, a reflection of the intense interest in the company and its hot stock.

In a sign that the company still expects phenomenal growth in the months ahead, Zoom forecast revenue of roughly $500 million for its current quarter ending in July, more than quadrupling from the same time last year. For its full fiscal year, Zoom now expects revenue of about $1.8 billion, nearly tripling in a year.

Zoom’s boom has come despite privacy and security problems that enabled outsiders to make uninvited, and sometimes crude appearances during other people’s video conferences.

The concerns prompted some schools to stop using Zoom for online classes that have become widespread since February, although the company’s efforts to introduce more security protection has brought some back to the service. More than 100,000 schools worldwide are now using Zoom for online classes, according to the company.

Overall, Zoom now has more than 300 million daily participants attending a meeting held on its service, up from 10 million five months ago. Those numbers include people who join multiple Zoom meetings during the same day, something that has been happening more recently in recent months.

If it hopes to continue to expand, Zoom also will likely have to do a better job of protecting the privacy of its video conferences. To help achieve that goal, Yuan has been consulting since April with Alex Stamos, a highly respected online security expert who previously worked at Yahoo and Facebook. Both those companies encountered their only security and privacy problems, too.

Zoom’s success is also drawing stiffer competition from much larger companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Facebook.

Zoom buys security firm Keybase

Zoom buys security firm Keybase

New York: Zoom Video Communications is buying security firm Keybase in an effort to shore up security for its video meetings.

The terms of the deal were undisclosed. Zoom has been working to improve the security of its video meetings after some lapses in privacy and security as Zoom meetings grew more popular during the pandemic.

Keybase is Zoom’s first acquisition. The company will help Zoom implement end-to-end encryption, a type of security that means Zoom has no access to the contents of encrypted data. Zoom says it will publish details of the encryption design on May 22 for feedback.

Zoom, which boasts 300 million users, had the luck to be in the right place at the right time just as millions of employees around the world suddenly found themselves ordered to work from home. But the San Jose, California company has been playing catch up with the security after people hacked into others’ videos in a practice called Zoombombing.

5 best Zoom features every user must try

5 best Zoom features every user must try

Due to Covid-19 lockdown, many are working from home and relying on video conferencing applications. At present, the video conferencing app that has become quite popular is Zoom.

For those considering Zoom must try these five features

Background change
You can replace the space behind you with an image of your choice. Open Zoom app, go to in-app settings, choose virtual background, and select the image you want. You can choose from the preset themes or upload your own.

Appearance touch-up
In video settings menu, you can toggle Touch Up My Appearance, filter on the camera that smooth lines, eliminates blemishes, and makes you look a bit more better in video calls.

Zoom web client
Zoom has a web client for those who only ever need to join other people’s meetings. It is simple to use and runs with minimal need for the user to change settings.

Record
Zoom allows users to record their video conferences. To record a video conference, go to settings, then recordings and toggle the button to start.

Screen sharing
One can also share screen with friends in a Zoom call. At the toolbar, click on share screen icon to enable the feature.