Is Zoom building an email service?

News stories that aren’t announced tend to be problematic, but The Information has an interesting one.  Quoting the piece:

Zoom plans to debut its own email and calendar services, possibly as soon as its Zoomtopia conference for customers in November, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans. The company has spent the better two years quietly developing the new services, which some employ “Zmail and Zcal.” Executives haven’t unveiled the products to most staff.

And further quoting

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan wants his company’s forthcoming email and calendar services to be pillars of a productivity suite, especially for the 200,000 businesses that pay for Zoom, most of which are small and medium size, a Zoom manager told The Information.

The question is, will customers want Zoom versions of products they already have? Microsoft and Google control 85% and 14% of the global market, respectively, for email and other productivity applications, according to research firm Gartner. 

If Zoom launches an email and calendar service, the key will be how it’s priced and packaged.    Assume it’s included in the services offered for paid customers… would that be disruptive?  

It highlights the recognition that the “work layer” is an area of crucial competition.   Zoom, Slack, Microsoft, and Google, are all battling it out for central positioning here.    I’m not sure Zmail or ZCal would be successful… but I’m watching.