An item that just crossed my desk was about ZOOM and how they are coming out with email and calendar applications named Zmail and Zcal. My first thought was why is ZOOM not sticking to its knitting and just being a communications company that has taken the world by storm. Then as I gave it more thought, I really think it's more about user data and privacy.
You see, for years everyone has contended that Google and to a large extent Microsoft both know more about you and what you're doing, as well as the information you produce and store than they should. Do I believe Google or Microsoft actually reads your email? No. But I do think using predictive analytics they are scanning and suggesting to you, while also formulating what they have to do to make their services more robust, as well as how knowing more about you can make their services better.
So why is ZOOM going into the "tools" space? First there's what I described above. Second, and way more important is how they can fill in the gaps between ZOOM conferencing and ZOOM Phone on their own terms. No longer will they need to wait to figure out how to integrate with Google or Microsoft Mail or Calendar, before rolling out new integrations. With ZCal and ZMail they can release those as soon as they want. Third, my guess is they will work with Google Mail and Outlook 365 as both offer IMAP and POP3, so just like the GMail application can connect to any third party email service, so could ZMail, as well as how the calendar app can take a feed, much like Apple's iCal.
But it's the Calendar space that has me more intrigued as that's where I think the sweet spot is. Already services like CRON and Magical as well as many others like MyNook are looking to redefine and reinvent the Calendar and how you use one. I see ZOOM doing that, and possibly buying one of the calendar startups up as there are many great ideas out there that best Microsoft's Outlook Calendar and Google Calendar all day long.