Recently, the California-based launched a new feature that enables the host to see other people’s videos and shared screens. The company calls this new feature ‘Focus Mode.’   

With this new feature, Zoom aims to help students and teachers to remain “focused” or aware and alert during their classes online.  

Once enabled, this feature will allow the host to access the videos of all participants. But, the best part, this will not become a cause of distraction for others present in the meeting. The feature will give access to the host and the co-host of a particular meeting.   

In a press release, Zoom stated, ‘Focus mode is designed with the digital learning environment in mind, or work on their tasks while under supervision, without being distracted by others and their tasks.  

This feature will not allow the members present at the meeting to see each other, only the host and co-host will be able to view everyone individually.   

How can you enable the ‘Focus Mode’ in Zoom calling app?  

Follow the steps given below:  

Step 1: Open Zoom App  

Step 2: Start meeting as a host  

Step 3: Click on More on the toolbar  

Step 4: Click on ‘Start Focus Mode’. Press ‘Confirm’  

Step 5: Press ‘Don’t ask me again  

Once “Focus Mode” has been enabled all the participants including the host will receive a notification.   

This new feature is available for all users having a free and licensed subscription. Users just have to enable it for their account from the Zoom web portal.  

Read Also: Zoom to Pay $85 Million for Privacy Violation

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Zoombombing is when outsiders hijack a meeting on Zoom and use racist language, display pornography, or post other disturbing content.  

On Saturday, a preliminary settlement was filed in the afternoon that requires approval by US District Judge in San Jose, California.  

In the proposed class action, Zoom’s subscribers would be eligible for 15% refunds on their core subscriptions or $25, while others will receive up to $15.   

Meanwhile, the company has agreed to add security measures including alerting users when hosts or other participants use third-party apps and providing specialized training to employees on privacy and data handling.   

On Sunday, in a statement, Zoom said: “The privacy and security of our users are top priorities for Zoom, and we take seriously the trust our users place in us.”   

In Zoom Meetings subscriptions, Zoom collected about $1.3 billion from class members. Given the litigation risks, the plaintiffs’ lawyers called the $85 million settlement reasonable. The lawyers intend to seek up to $21.25 million for legal fees.   

Zoom was almost immune for Zoombombing under the federal Communications Decency Act, shielding online platforms from liability over user content.   

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom’s customer base has grown sixfold as more and more people shifted to work from home. At the beginning of the pandemic, the company had 497,000 customers in April 2021, up from 81,900 in January 2020.   

However, the company said that user growth could slow or decline as more people start returning to work or school in person. 

Also Read : Zoom buys Firm Five9 for $14.7 billion to Expand their Product Portfolio

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Zoom, which was valued at about $9 billion at its IPO two years ago, is leveraging the rise in stock price for its first major acquisition.    

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2022 and after the acquisition, Five9 will become an operating unit of Zoom.  

Zoom’s latest acquisition is an attempt to expand its offerings beyond video conferencing. The video conferencing software company, in the past year, has added several office collaboration products, an all-in-one home communications appliance, and a cloud phone system.  

Five9 has over 2,000 customers worldwide, including Under Armour and Citrix, and processes over 7 billion minutes of calls annually. 

Also Read: Google Meet To Getting Virtual Backgrounds on iOS

The acquisition will benefit Zoom by entering the $24 billion market for contact centers.   

In a statement, Eric S. Yuan, founder and chief executive of Zoom, said “We are continuously looking for ways to enhance our platform, and the addition of Five9 is a natural fit that will deliver even more happiness and value to our customers.”   

The firms said that joining the forces will offer both firms “significant” cross-selling opportunities.  

Rowan Trollope, chief executive of Five9, said “Businesses spend significant resources annually on their contact centers, but still struggle to deliver a seamless experience for their customers.”  

“It has always been Five9’s mission to make it easy for businesses to fix that problem and engage with their customers in a more meaningful and efficient way. Joining forces with Zoom will provide Five9’s business customers access to best-of-breed solutions, particularly Zoom Phone, that will enable them to realize more value and deliver real results for their business.”   

“This, combined with Zoom’s ‘ease-of use’ philosophy and broad communication portfolio, will truly enable customers to engage via their preferred channel of choice.” 

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This is the pandemic-stricken era we are dwelling in, and we are trying our best to cope with every challenge thrown at us as much as possible. After health, a factor that has become a real struggle for us is continuing our professional practices at offices. Even though office buildings are reopening back again at a gradual pace, it is evident that there is no rush back as such to physical offices. 

In fact, it has become an entirely unpredictable notion. Hence, there exists the concept of hybrid work culture and meetings more strongly than ever before today. A large percentage of businesses from various industries around the globe are reliant on hybrid work strategies. This is significantly backed by video conference technology. 

Besides, modern businesses are also utilizing visual tools as a crucial part of their inclusive growth strategy. Advanced video technologies and video marketing strategies are helping many companies survive even in this unmanageable phase brought by time.  

The Rising Hybrid Work Trend and What Does It Involve? 

So, you must have come across virtual or remote working. But hybrid work culture is much more than that. In the case of hybrid meetings, certain participants join in-person and live from office meeting rooms while the others join remote locations.

These remote locations might include homes, hotels, airports, to just cafes. It is basically a combination of online presentations and lives video streaming of content. 

From data sharing, interactivity, recording to in-person interaction, it covers plenty. The need for such a work culture is increasing day by day with the advent of digitization and the current crisis-based situation. All of these would not have been possible without quality video conferencing. 

Here are some of the rational justifications that will declare why video conferencing is inevitable to hybrid work! 

1. Increased Flexibility

The need for flexibility is high in hybrid work practice. Since companies would operate meetings, conversations, collaboration on an entirely new platform, every member or participant must feel a sense of flexibility. 

Video conferencing applications and software lets you and your employees achieve a higher degree of comfort, ease, and job satisfaction. Certain significant surveys even show that hybrid work cultures carried out by quality video conferences have increased work productivity to several percentages for several companies.  

More flexibility also encourages workforces to perform things in an agile manner, making decision-making convenient and faster.

Staff from any part of the world can smoothly tune into important and sudden calls and meetings. If you have employees on health recovery or just boarded a plane, they can feel equally connected to the rest of the office.  

2. Enriched Organizational Culture

Communications generally initiate enhanced better employee and organizational relationships. As some employees work remotely or outside the premises, they can easily feel isolated, and this can impact the work and its productivity.

Daily messages and emails can lower this particular feeling; however, it is not adequate to make employees feel a vital part of the team.  

Without visual technology, business leaders risk prolonging the idea that remote staff is somewhat second-hand citizens often overlooked by the in-house workforce or the management.

Surveys show that several people do feel not much associated as a result of remote working, however, video conferences can be a boon to the problem. 

Via extensive video conferencing tools and features like the together mode, the gap between every member can be easily bridged, establishing a strong sense of community.  

3. Structured Conferences with Enhanced Collaboration

In hybrid working culture, employees generally call from various places. The defined starts and ending times are often decided before the video call. This lets more intensive conversations with lesser chit-chat. 

Also, participants are more likely to be cautious and focused on the discussions of a video conference than repetitive email lists where they can easily miss out on the intent or meaning behind the messages.

The participants are also able to see the significant visual cues when it comes to the body language and gestures of partners, colleagues, and consumers. 

The expressions of concern, understanding, or satisfaction can be addressed more conveniently than that of the array of IMs, emails, or voicemails, making the video conference the closest aspect to being there.  

4. Better Wellbeing for Every Staff Member

Video conferencing is not merely a tool made to keep employees’ work properly away from the office. With time, video landed as a significant lifeline for remote employees who had the need to feel backed and engaged by their team. 

Many video vendors experimented with almost everything from making meetings more interesting, using virtual backgrounds to video filters, and they have worked wonder make yours! 

Gone are the days when you communicate with your employees with just lists of emails and texts. With advanced visual conference tools, you can add a more human touch to your interaction and collaboration. 

It is almost like face-to-face communication, which solves half the problems making your employees feel more a part of the work, secure and open. You can also integrate different tools with bots in video conference calls.

This will keep employers posted about their overall issues and well-being. As we roll with all our uncertain working days into the upcoming future, ensuring workforce wellbeing will keep companies at again.  

Conclusion:

Occupations in information technology, finance, or media, a range of industries use high-end video conference tools to initiate successful remote and hybrid meetings and work. This trend of using visual technology is definitely here to stay as the future of business. 

Today, video marketing is gaining massive importance as it is helping in inducing quality and easy-initiated videos for promoting products, services, brands, communication with clients, or building consumer rapport. 

Likewise, video conferencing has become the foundation of hybrid work culture in modern businesses. There are a booming number of companies, irrespective of size, scope, and scale adapting to advanced video-based technologies to add a competitive edge to their business. Companies are considering spending on video technology more like a brilliant future investment rather than mere expenditures. It is time you explore it as well. 

Author Bio:

Shreeya Chourasia is an experienced B2B marketing/tech content writer, who is diligently committed to growing your online presence. Her writing doesn’t merely direct the audience to take action, rather it explains how to take action for promising outcomes.

The post Why Video Conferencing Technology is Must for Hybrid Work  appeared first on Tech Research Online.

The ongoing coronavirus crisis has confined people to the safety of their homes. To keep businesses running people have resorted to working from home. However, to bring out maximum productivity businesses must collaborate.

This has made video conferencing software a vital technology for both businesses and their employees. It has become a key component of how many businesses are continuing to function.

Other than the obvious, as the idea of lockdown is to eliminate social contacts, schools are not able to keep teaching, families, and friends cannot stay connected, and so many others.

This has led to a huge surge in adoption rates for video conferencing applications such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meets, or Zoom. These applications are bridging the customer’s needs by leveraging visual communication as a collaboration feature.

In the recent few months, video conferencing sellers have seen a rise in user traffic. It is changing these tools to compete with one another and makes things difficult for buyers.

These video conferencing vendors have even adapted to freemium or special offers deployment to help entice new customers.

So let’s take a look at how these three most popular video conferencing apps (Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Zoom) works and their limitations.

Zoom vs Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet: Availability

Today, video conferences are not limited to just PCs and laptops. Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are all available for Android and iOS-based mobile devices.

However, both Microsoft teams and Google Meet can also be accessed directly through other search engines such as chrome or safari without any requirement for additional plugins.

You can also participate or schedule a meeting just by visiting its link on a browser. Zoom, on its part, doesn’t allow users to host a meeting through a browser; nevertheless, you can still join a meeting.

Zoom vs Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet: Meeting Time, Participants limit, and Media and Screen Sharing

Google Meet will be launching its free version in weeks to come while Zoom and Microsoft Teams already have free versions. However, freemium offerings of all the free versions of all three have some limitations.

The free version of Google Meet offers 60 minutes meeting limit along, however, with the ongoing crises users will be able to use Google Meet for meetings of unlimited length till 30 September.

It also provides screen sharing and recording capabilities, real-time captioning, and scheduling.

The free version of Microsoft Teams offers unlimited video and audio calls, chat messages, file and screen sharing, and a feature that lets you collaborate on Office documents.

Zoom, in its free version, provides a 40 minutes limit on group meetings. Both Google Meet and Zoom allow hosting meetings with up to 100 participants while Microsoft Teams allows more than 100. The two also enable real-time captions during the call.

Image Credits: Data1.ibtimes

Zoom vs Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet: Security

Google Meet and Microsoft have a significantly better stand when it comes to security than Zoom. Zoom has lately been under the limelight for security-related concerns. It even released a new upgrade called Zoom 5.0 to address some of them.

Google Meet stands at the top when it comes to security as it supports multiple 2-step verification options. It also adheres to IETF security standards for Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS).

Furthermore, Meet generates a unique encryption key for every meeting which is then transmitted in an encrypted and secured RPC. Similar to Google Meets, Microsoft Teams includes several layers of security including encrypting all meetings to help keep information safe.

It also offers packages that let you enable two-step authentication, making it harder for non-invited attendees to enter a meeting. In strong contrast, Zoom uses the AES 256-bit GCM encryption standard which was touted across all accounts from May 30.

Zoom vs Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet: Interface

Zoom is said to have truly excelled when it comes to user interface and experience. It is also popular for its Gallery view display that accommodates up to 49 participants on a single screen.

However, Google Meet has recently provided a similar interface by enabling an expanded tiled layout that shows up to 16 participants.

On the other hand, Microsoft Teams only offer a limited viewing capacity of 4 participants on-screen regardless of the number of people in the meeting.

Furthermore, recently, Google also added a low-light mode to adjust video based on lighting conditions which are limited to mobile users.

Microsoft Teams offers full Office 365 applications into Teams, which makes the full set of workstream collaboration offering a broader surface area of usage. We can conclude, Microsoft Teams offers a much better user interface.

Image Credits: dynamo6

Credit:- Microsoft.Teams 

Zoom vs Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet: Recording

Zoom allows users to record meetings in their free version which can be stored in the local system. On the other hand, Google Meet and Teams don’t allow recording of virtual meetings on their free versions. However, in the case of paid users of both G-Suite Enterprise and Office 365 meetings can be recorded seamlessly.

In the case of Google Meet, the recording feature will be available for free users until September 30. But, this will be a Microsoft Teams video conference limit.

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom are both phenomenal applications when it comes to video and audio calling.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we have tried to compare all the features of these popular applications, however, selecting a perfect fit for your organization depends less on the best qualities and more on your business needs. 

We have tried to put forth the Microsoft teams video conference limit, Google meets limits, and Zooms too. In this time, collaboration has become more crucial than ever before and these tools are only helping us become closer than ever.

But, when it comes to choosing the right tools for you, the needs of your businesses will be beside which one is the best for you. 

Author Bio:

The post Zoom vs Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet: A Step by Step Comparison appeared first on Tech Research Online.

We saw a huge lock-down around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic. And as the world stopped, we continued to stay online for more and more hours.  

For instance, Statista says that the coronavirus outbreak increased internet consumption across the globe, with an increase in social media usage by 21%, an increase in news consumption by 36%, and audiobook listening by 14%. 

During these hard times, one of our major aid was a video calling platform called ZOOM. 

However, there is one thing we all admit which is that the rapid growth of its platform has left users without much need for security and privacy. 

Zoom bombing has become a popular concept among users. According to Wikipedia- It refers to the unwanted, disruptive intrusion, generally by Internet trolls, into a video-conference call. 

So, in this blog post, we are going to share with you the top 5 Zoom security & privacy tips for 2021.  

#1. Password protect your Meeting and Share your Password Securely  

Zoom bombing relies the most on meetings that are not password protected and those whose meeting numbers and passwords have been shared publicly. So, use a password for all your meetings and share them securely.

Other than that, you should not share data such as personal IDs, and pictures of meetings publicly.  

#2. Use Waiting Rooms 

Another way to secure your Zoom is by using the waiting room and monitoring people who enter your meeting. The waiting room will allow you to screen everyone to ensure no one uninvited can get in.

Once you enable this feature you will have two options: 

• Send all participants to the virtual waiting area and admit them individually or all at once. 
• Allow only guest participants to skip to the waiting room and directly join the meeting. But, sending other people who have not signed in/part into the virtual waiting area. 

Also Read: What Happened To Skype | How Did Zoom Surpassed Skype

#3. Control Screen Sharing and Chat Room 

To get more control of your zoom meeting, take better control of features like screen sharing and chat room. This will give you more control over what you participate in.

Source: Zoom

For those of you who want to host a presentation or other meeting, you can control both screen sharing and chat access from the Security icon. This can be a better option if you don’t want to disable it altogether. This will allow interaction as you need. 

#4. Lock Your Meeting Room 

Once all of your participants have entered the meeting room you can prevent further participants from entering by locking your meeting room.

Source: Zoom

Just, go to the navigation sidebar < Participants < More < Lock Meeting. 

#5. Keep Your App Updated  

Similar to other applications and websites, Zoom also suffers from security vulnerabilities. However, through the months, Zoom’s persistent efforts have proven that these flaws can be fixed.  

For example, Zoom fixed two problems – first, allowed attackers to take over an Apple Mac’s microphone or camera, and another problem with Windows that could let a hacker steal logins.  

Hence, it becomes all the more important for you to keep the installed version of the Zoom mobile or desktop app updated. This will ensure that once the company fixes these issues, your risk is lowered. 

Conclusion:

With the lockdown, we are spending more and more time alone. Self-isolation can be boring and lonely. However, imagine all this happening before broadband. Nightmare huh! 

Well, today, videoconferencing has given us the ability to work and communicate remotely. We’re so glad that such apps as Zoom exist. Today, we are using Zoom for so much and its use will only increase in the future.  

Though they still pose some issues, now with the top 5 Zoom security & privacy tips, you will know the right way to use them. 

Author Bio:

The post Top 5 Zoom Security & Privacy Tips for 2021 appeared first on Tech Research Online.

On Monday, Zoom said that this is an optional feature that is available immediately as a technical preview. This means that the company is proactively soliciting feedback from all its users for the next 30 days.  

Also Read: Alphabet’s Google Releases New Chrome Security Patch To Actively Exploited Zero-day

Jason Lee, Zoom Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), said “We’re very proud to bring Zoom’s new end-to-end encryption to Zoom users globally today.” Adding “This has been a highly requested feature from our customers, and we’re excited to make this a reality.”  

The new security feature has been made available on Zoom desktop client versions for the Android app, 5.4.0 for Mac and PC, and Zoom Rooms. However, the Zoom iOS app is still pending approval from Apple App Store.  

Nobody except each participant to have access to the encryption keys that are used to encrypt the meeting not even Zoom’s meeting servers when users enable E2EE for their meetings, the company said. 

This feature can be enabled by account admins in their web dashboard at the account, user, and group level. Also, it can be locked at the account or group level.   

If it is enabled, the host can toggle on and off end-to-end encryption for a meeting depending upon the level of security.  

In phase one, meeting participants will be able to join from the Zoom mobile app, desktop client, or Zoom Rooms for encryption-enabled meetings.  

The company first announced its plans to build an end-to-end-encrypted meeting option in May.  

 On May 22, after releasing the draft design of the platform’s, the company said that it has engaged with civil liberties organizations, its users, encryption experts, child safety advocates, government representatives, and others to gather their feedback on this new end-to-end encryption feature.  

 Earlier, the company was sued by one of its shareholders who complain that Zoom failed to disclose some vulnerabilities. He also claimed that the services did not provide end-to-end encryption to its users.  

 Zoom hopes to gather some input from customers as a technical preview of their own experiences with its end-to-end encryption. 

The post Zoom Rolls-out End-to-End Encryption for Its Paid and Free Users appeared first on Tech Research Online.

Several tech companies have reported a surge in the number of daily users. Some of these apps are designed to help track the virus many are purely for entertainment and health purpose. The majority of users are working from home and adapting to spending long periods between four walls.

Fortunately, several apps have been gaining increases popularity to curb boredom by keeping our minds and bodies active. Some of these apps can keep boredom at bay while keeping you mindful and healthy. Here are the best coronavirus-related apps to download:

COVID Symptom Tracker and Covid-19 Tracker

These apps are designed with the aim of slow down the spread of Covid-19 and identify risk cases as soon as possible. Uses can take a one-minute test to self-report their symptoms and update their information as symptoms change. Self-reporting symptoms can help researchers identify the speed at which the virus is spreading in a user’s area. They can also understand high-risk areas that are at risk by understanding symptoms linked to underlying health conditions.

The app also updates users with the latest news about the virus and engages them in real-time conversations with other users. These trackers allow users to self-report symptoms and reduce the rate of infection for others. If one of the users tests positive for the virus, the app itself will alert responsible authorities so users can seek medical care.

#1. Headspace

Headspace has been a popular app even before the time of the pandemic. The app can help find moments of solace even the chaos, it can even help you fall to sleep, and soothe your mind. If you haven’t already used this app then this is the best time to download it.

The mindfulness apps have hundreds of guided meditations sessions from managing stress to anxiety and sleep.

Headspace App even has SOS sessions for moments of panic or stress. It also features live animations to teach users new skills, a move mode to facilitate cardio and workouts, and a sleep feature.

It has full guided training sessions led by former monk and mindfulness expert. It has been regularly recommended by therapists to aid with counseling. Furthermore, this app also enables users to keep a private journal and monitor daily moods and activities for free.

In its journal, it offers other features such as adding notes, colors, and emojis to help communicate and reflect moods, set reminders to prompt entries, create goals, build new habits, and turn on a PIN lock. These features focus on improving mindset and monitoring moods over days, weeks, and months.

#2. Houseparty

Humans are social animals and today out progress is a result of social interaction. Quarantines and self-isolation have justified us confines to the four walls of our house.

Many people are struggling because of not having face-to-face interactions with friends. Houseparty App is a must-download for such people as it is a social networking app where users can connect with friends and family through video chats.

This app offers several features such as alerts if when others are ‘in the house’ to enable users to strike up a conversation instantly. Users can chat with up to eight friends simultaneously which is perfect for those annoyed by Whatsapp’s and FaceTime’s four-person limit.

#3. Moodpath

Moodpath is a perfect app for those people who want to keep a tab on their thoughts and emotions during Covid-19.

The app provides several features to assess your mental health such as by answering daily questions about physical and emotional well-being, sharing those assessments with mental health professionals, and so much more.

Its mood tracker can be used to reflect on your thoughts and feelings. It also offers several practice modes of CBT with written and audio exercises.

#4. Zoom

Lockdowns have led to the temporary closing of offices and workspaces. Employees have retreated to work from home. Nevertheless, the progress of businesses depends on the collaboration of the employees.

Zooms App are proving video conferencing platforms for such businesses to collaborate and share ideas.

This app allows multiple people to join meetings in real-time with colleagues. The app doesn’t even require any payment or purchase of service for small scale businesses.

It can also be used for online classrooms and video calls with friends and family. Its features include screen share screen, background customization, and several others.

#5. Freedom

Quarantines and lockdowns have been negatively impacting many people. Freedom app is perfect for those people who are getting increasingly sick of news updates about coronavirus.

This app lets users set their daily limits on most android devices. It also enables them to block distractions on other devices as well to improve the relationship with technology.

The app’s makers have said that its users report gaining two and a half hours of productive time each day. It was all possible because of its several features to help fight distraction and technology addiction.

Uses can start by turning off notification noises, setting a lock mode, blocking the internet, and scheduling blocks to help them focus on productive habits.

Conclusion:

The rise of technology has led us to far and near places, however, now that we are confines in our homes technology can still rescue us. Technology is offering us several ways to overcome this crisis and led a healthy life. These apps have gained immense popularity among people as they can not only help lead a better life during quarantine but after that too.

Author Bio:

The post 6 Apps That Are Trending Due To COVID-19 appeared first on Tech Research Online.

• In 2011, Skype has 100 million active users and nearly 8 million paying customers.
• To capitalize on integration of Windows Phone and mobile apps the company transitioned the app from P2P networks to cloud-powered servers.
• The transition resulted in calls, messages, and notifications repeating on devices making Skype unreliable.
• In November 2016, Microsoft shifted its focus from Skype and launched Teams.
• Skype users were disappointed, so, Zoom focused on the struggles of its user base and offered high-quality audio and video calls.
• Pandemic amplified demand for the app boosting its sales and stock price to paving a path for its success.

Offices and other places of social interactions such as schools and universities have shifted at home. The only way for people to interact with friends, family, and colleagues is through the internet. 

This has led to an increase in internet activity for several mobile and computer applications that provide productivity and easy communication. This drastic change in society has shifted focus from messaging app to teleconferencing software.

Since the beginning of the lockdown, Zoom has considerably dominated the global teleconferencing market. Teams and Google followed its lead closely behind. However, in between all the chaos Skype – a popular video calling app for nearly two decades failed miserably to make any headline. This posed the two most important questions for everyone – What happened to Skype? and How did Zoom surpass an app twice older?

What happened to Skype?

Nevertheless, once Microsoft successfully acquired Skype technologies it faced some big challenges. This happened during the initial period of turning Skype into a profitable business while simultaneously keeping it relevant for consumers. 

The acquisition took place around the time when chat apps like WhatsApp and WeChat were gaining momentum. This was also the same time when Zoom and Snapchat were founded. These apps were starting to challenge the dominance of Skype.

The first step Microsoft took for the Skype app was to ditch its own popular Windows Live Messenger service. However, the company still had a major problem – Skype’s service was based on P2P technology. This started a series of problems such as skype security issues. In 2013, to capitalize on integration of Windows Phone and mobile apps the company transitioned the app from P2P networks to cloud-powered servers.

The company also made Skype its default messaging app for Windows 8.1. and took the app on the web as part of Outlook. However messy it was, these steps made the transition from the app’s traditional P2P networks. The transition resulted in calls, messages, and notifications repeating on devices making Skype unreliable.

This transition took years and during this time several rivals started to rise. They were offering alternatives that not just incorporated messaging functionality but also synced across devices. Instead of fixing underlying issues, Microsoft was still spending heavily and putting in time trying to redesign Skype. This made the app both unreliable due Skype’s security issues and bad in terms of user experience.

So, in 2017, the company went off-road with the design. This new design turned the app into something similar to Snapchat. The design still failed to please people and attacked a lot of criticism. Eventually, they were forced to kill off Snapchat-like features. By this time Microsoft acknowledged that there are some serious problems Skype had.

During November 2016, the company shifted its focus from Skype and launched Teams. The company also integrated video calls into Teams. It was designed to take over Slack as a sophisticated tool for workplaces. In September 2017, Microsoft notified Skype’s business department that it will be replaced by Teams and its consumer version of Skype. Microsoft said that it will keep investing in Skype.

However, finally, in July 2021, Skype disappeared. 

When did Skype Become Popular?

To understand why Skype failed, we need to first understand – How Skype technologies dominated the market in the first place?

Back in 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype app for $8.5 billion. During this time the app not only had more than 100 million active users but also nearly 8 million paying customers.

The reason for the app’s success can be traced to the new and exciting communication tool it offered. It provides users the ability to talk via the internet. Additionally, Skype app provides quality audio and video service that was way ahead and better than its competitors. In the early stages, the founder of the app patented their technology which was another crucial reason for its success.

The app has become the main way for consumers to talk to each other with video calls over the internet. Voice and video calls made up 40% of all Skype usage back in 2011. The app had become a grand success, The Onion joked that the word “Skype” would be added to the dictionary. Nearly three years later, the verb was added to the Oxford English Dictionary. This highlighted the success and popularity of the service.

Skype Usage Statistics

In a press conference, Microsoft revealed that Skype has 200 million active users which rose to 40 million during the coronavirus pandemic, up 70% month-over-month.

Rise of Zoom

Skype users were disappointed after giving several chances. While Microsoft was focusing on adding and designing new features, the video and audio quality of Skype never improved. People started switching to similar alternative options (which were offering better quality for free).

During this time Zoom focused on the struggles of its user base. In contrast to Skype, their users were offered high-quality audio and video calls. It also offered good quality recording and sharing of conversations. This started to increase the users while simultaneously increasing its popularity.

Moreover, the video calling app offered a useful and unique beauty filter and virtual background instead of emoji and Snapchat like features. The built-in beautification filters smooth out skin tone and blemishes to give a polished appearance.

The virtual background features help user’s with custom backgrounds to cover the clutters, running pets and children, and others. Milky Way galaxy and Burj Khalifa top have become one of the most popularly used backgrounds. Users are also provided several options to add images and customize their videos.

Why do people start using zoom instead of skype?

One of the most important features that gave enormous Zoom over Skype and other video conferencing apps was its ability to allow the host to split participants into different rooms. Similar to how colleagues in different departments sit separately for work at workplaces. The hosts can split their employees into 50 breakout rooms (different sessions). This allows the employee’s room to discuss and collaborate with teammates. It also allows bosses and managers to pop-in and out of the breakout room to follow up and get updated. These features have only helped Zoom become one of the most popular apps and dominate the market.

Lastly, the selling point for an app to the broader consumer world was its free 40-minute conference calls for up to 100 attendees. The app has a simple and intuitive user interface, the app is extremely easy to use, and people wanting to join meetings don’t need to login for accessing meetings.

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