Video meetings are big business nowadays. Tech giant Alphabet (GOOG 0.12%) (GOOGL 0.15%) is leaning into this space by giving its Google Meet video chat platform some prime real estate on the mobile versions of leading email platform Gmail.
What's new?
On Tuesday, Google's corporate blog announced the tighter integration of Google Meet into the Gmail suite. Smartphones and tablets running Android or iOS will soon see a new version of the Gmail app that includes a prominent Meet tab. Launching a new meeting or joining an existing chat is only a couple of taps away from the main app window. For those who don't feel a need for easily accessible Meet chats, the tab can be disabled in Gmail's settings. The app upgrades will roll out over the next few weeks.
Image source: Google.
The web browser version of Gmail acquired Meet buttons in the bottom left corner last month. In April, Meet moved from a paid service to a free tool. Premium variants still exist, expanding the supported meeting size from 100 participants to as many as 250 and stretching the 1-hour meeting length all the way to 300 hours. The paid plans also allow people to join in audio-only mode by calling a phone number and save a recording of the completed meeting, among other administrative upgrades and improved security management.
The Google Meet platform is growing more and more comparable to Zoom Video Communications (ZM +0.42%) and its eponymous video meetings service, but Zoom is still the solution that springs to mind first when planning a video meeting. Promoting Meet inside the world's leading email solution could give Google's tool a more significant share of this important market.
