Google wants Meet to operate better with Zoom and run on more devices

Google has revealed that plans are far advanced to make its video conferencing app, Google Meet compatible to zoom and other devices.

On Wednesday, October 26, 2022, the company announced that its enterprise version of Meet will be coming to devices running Android, where it’s traditionally run on ChromeOS.

The latter change will start with devices from Poly and Logitech, but let’s back up a second here because I know there are probably a few of you thinking something along the lines of “what do you mean, ChromeOS? Isn’t Meet just an app on my phone, or a website I can visit, or a tab in Gmail, or… ?” And the answer is yes, but for enterprise users, it’s even more. For years, the company has been selling dedicated Google Meet hardware for board and meeting rooms that theoretically let you just tap on a touchscreen to join or manage meetings. Those devices, and others like them that have been designed for other videoconferencing services like Zoom, are what we’re talking about today.

Google’s also announcing interoperability with Zoom’s Rooms system (which is similar to the enterprise version of Google Meet but for Zoom). That means that people will be able to use their Meet hardware to make Zoom Rooms calls, and people with Zoom hardware will be able to use Meet on it. According to the company’s blog post, the interoperability feature, which is launching later this year, will initially be supported by “all ChromeOS-based Meet devices,” such as the ones from Acer, Asus, and Lenovo, with support for other Meet devices coming over time. Meet will be able to run on “all Zoom Rooms across all platforms.”

Google’s famous for its confusing messaging strategy, and the enterprise version isn’t that much easier to grasp. However, it does seem like the company is trying to make it simpler by getting Meet to a place where it’s more platform agnostic — and by letting other companies’ services run on Meet hardware.