Google Meet will be free to use by anyone in the coming weeks. The company’s premium video conferencing product will become freemium in the meantime amidst coronavirus pandemic.
The secure and reliable video conferencing software will be available for use with any email address, even if it is not Gmail. Previously, Meet was exclusive for corporate and schools only.
The decision to make it free of charge came from the exploding phenomena of video conferencing use for various purposes due to COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing. Additionally, security issues experienced by competitor Zoom also contribute to the final decision.
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet, said that Meet has surpassed a significant milestone recently. Accordingly, usage has increased 30-fold since January, with more than 100 million DAU (daily active users).
With Google Meet being free to use, it will add up to the competition of free video conferencing tools in the market.
Also Read: Microsoft Aggressively Sells Teams, DAU Up to 44M
Google Meet Joins Video Conferencing Software Competition
The current competition in video conferencing tools is highly tight, especially during the coronavirus lockdown. With numerous competitors having an early start, Google might experience a more challenging competition in the market.
The biggest competition might potentially be against Zoom, which previously experienced security and privacy issues. The company acknowledges their mistakes and is currently working on the issue.
Another competition comes from another tech giant, Microsoft. The gigantic tech company which recently witnesses successful sales of its collaboration tools, Teams, has a wide-known video conferencing software, Skype.
Facebook, another tech leviathan, is also planning to join the fray. Its upcoming software claims to have a benefit of having no time limit for calls.
Google, in response to the competition, stated that its advantage lies in the security. According to the company, Meet is “designed, built and operated to be secure at scale.”
