Zoom launches its events platform and marketplace, brings apps to your calls

Zoom is hosting its virtual Zoomtopia user conference this week. Given the attention the company has received as the de facto standard video meeting service since the start of the pandemic, it's no surprise that the company is using the event to launch a number of new products. For the most part, though, we're not talking about any enhancements to the core Zoom experience here. Instead, the company is using the event to launch its OnZoom events platform and marketplace into general availability (it was previously only available as a private beta) and it is launching Zapps, which brings apps from the company's 35 launch partners right into the Zoom experience.

Image Credits: Zoom

OnZoom allows hosts to run one-time events or event series with up 100 or 1,000 attendees (depending on their license) and sell tickets for them. The idea here is for anybody - whether a yoga teacher, nonprofit or a professional event organizer - to list and sell tickets on the OnZoom marketplace. Right now, Zoom accepts PayPal and credit card payments, with the team saying that it may look into other payment options in the future. For non-profits, Zoom is also integrating the ability to receive donations through events through its partnership with Pledgeling.

Based on the demo the team shared ahead of today's announcement, it's a pretty straightforward experience for both hosts and viewers.

Image Credits: Zoom

For the day-to-day Zoom user, the launch of Zapps (yeah - I don't love that name either) is probably the more interesting announcement. The idea here is to integrate apps directly into the Zoom experience so that users don't have to switch back and forth between multiple applications on their desktops.

Zapps help surface all the applications you need to be productive and enable the free flow of information between teams before, during, and after the meeting," the company writes. Think of Zapps as an app store right where you need it most - in a Zoom meeting, chat, webinar, phone call, and even your contacts directory."

These apps can be launched as screen shares, but more importantly, you can send them to all participants for real-time collaboration.

The 35 launch partners include the likes of Asana, Atlassian, Dropbox, Hubspot, Slack, SurveyMonkey, Wrike and Zendesk.