Editor’s Note: This article was updated April 4, 2022, for clarity.
Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) provides a popular teleconferencing platform, but it now has serious competition from Google Workspace. The latter is owned by parent company Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL).
You might think of Google primarily as a search engine and not a competitor to Zoom. Yet ZM stock — which has already fallen to $120 from its $400 peak — could face further pressure as Google Workspace seeks to dominate the hybrid-meeting market.
Granted, Zoom is the go-to teleconferencing software for many businesses. This could change in 2022, though. In a fresh Google Cloud blog post, the company announced new features for Google Workspace and, more specifically, for its Google Meet service.
As the blog post implies, many businesses use the hybrid model for their meetings nowadays, with both in-person and remote attendees. It can be a challenge to make this type of meeting both secure and inclusive. Currently, it appears that Google Meet is rolling out some eye-opening features which, even if Zoom has similar features, could possibly draw attention away from Zoom.
First of all, Google Meet is rolling out in-meeting reactions. These are similar to emoticons, which many people are familiar with. They’ll allow attendees to express themselves visually with, for example, a smiley face, a heart or a thumbs-up symbol.
Next, Google Meet is expected to integrate directly with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides in the coming weeks. That way, users will be able to easily share documents, spreadsheets and presentations during meetings.
Furthermore, Google Meet users can anticipate picture-in-picture functionality if they are running the program on a Chrome browser. This feature could be a real game changer. According to the press release, it will “help presenters and multitaskers see their audience while navigating different tabs and windows.”
Imagine being able to view up to four video tiles of meeting attendees in a floating window, even while other applications are running. This will, if everything works out as planned, be possible with Google Meet.
ZM stock zoomed to the top as the company asserted its dominance in the teleconferencing software market. Now, Google is getting serious about stealing market share from Zoom. So, it’s not a bad idea to hedge your bets and consider rebalancing into GOOGL or GOOG stock if you own a large position in ZM.
On the date of publication, David Moadel did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
