Source: Joe Maring / Android Central
While you can use Google Meet as a Duo to make video calls on Nest Hub smart displays, Google will be adding support for a competing service, Zoom, in the future.
Google announced Wednesday:
Zoom comes at the end of the year on assistant-enabled smart displays, including Nest Hub Max. […]Anyone with a Zoom account – whether it’s free or paid for now – will be able to take part in a video call from their Hub Max or another assistant-enabled Smart Display. With Meet of Zoom you can easily move from one conversation to the next.
While Google Duo and Meet were expected on the platform, Zoom comes as a bit of a surprise. On the other hand, Google has never refrained from supporting competitors, where it made sense in a way that certain competing companies would not. Zoom, for its part, is used broadly enough that an add-on to the Nest Hub is likely to be more valuable to Google and its customers than it is to stay locked up for Meet and Duo, even though Google’s plans for that duo (ahem) are not are sure.
Lilian Rincon, Senior Director of Product Management, Google Assistant said so much:
One of the most popular ways people use smart displays with assistant enabling is for video calling, and we want people to be able to use the video calling service of their choice to keep in touch with friends and family. Nest Hub Max and Google Assistant offer a number of ways to stay connected, and we’ve excited to bring even more options to our users.
However, you have to wait a bit for Zoom, Google says the update will come at the end of the year.
Update, August 19 (12:30 p.m. ET) – Zoom also comes to the Amazon Echo Show and Facebook Portal
Zoom also announced that it would be coming to other smart home devices including the Amazon Echo Show and the Facebook Portal. Zoom will land on the Portal Mini, Portal and Portal + from September. It will add support for Portal TV in the future. Zoom will begin rolling out on Echo Show 8 in the US at an unspecified time later in the year. It will come later on other Echo Show devices.
Oded Gal, Chief Product Officer at Zoom said:
We are excited to bring Zoom to these popular devices. It is clearer than ever that people are looking for easy-to-use monitors for their need for video communication, both professionally and personally. “
