It would be interesting to see reactions to the writer’s proposals versus a “what is a moat” and “does Zoom have it” debate.
I don’t see how back seat driving is of any help in the business of investing. I invest in what is, not in what some writer thinks Eric Yuan should do. Earlier non-organic growth was criticized, now it is being lauded. My reaction to the writer’s proposals? A waste of time.
Denny Schlesinger
When threads go on like this (now more than 20 posts), they get less useful as they go. We forget what points have already been made, etc.
Let’s please end this thread.
Thanks,
Bear
Assistant Board Manager
With a Post Header that triggers like “Why did you stop beating your wife?” it cannot be helped!
Maybe Ruhaan knew what he was doing? I theorize hundreds of foolish newbies saw the post headers and read nearly none of it. The “main” Options expiration is this Friday, too.
He said nothing about why his workplace liked BlueJeans better, in any way, shape or form.
Zoom got where they are by being the best and easiest to set up when everyone needed it “tomorrow”. The initial appeal was fabulous video quality, reliable connection, and ease of use for people who were not tied into a Cisco or Microsoft infrastructure. It was just sitting there when the pandemic hit, and it JUST WORKED for everyone. The initial moat was a great engineering and usability advantage. That quickly evolved into a great mind share advantage. As mentioned above, Zoom has become a verb, like Google, Kleenex and Xerox.
The engineering moat: Great, reliable video that “just works” from anywhere. Now that the big competitors see what CAN be done, they can eventually reproduce the video quality, features and ease of use, IF they spent the time and money. They also must be willing to get videoconferencing out of their “walled gardens” (Webex and Teams) and still have a way to profit from it. It is do-able, unless patents lock them out.
But “do-able” is not “easy to do”. Now that such a large percentage of the public lives in Zoom-land, you have to offer something that makes customers willing to change:
The mind share moat: Zoom got to Joe and Mary Public and their employers first, courtesy of a pandemic and being there with a solution that works for business, schools, worship services and families. Now that so many people have embedded Zoom into their daily routine, competitors must give them a reason to change. Cheaper, easier, or so much better that it is worth the cost and trouble of switching. Can competitors do that at a profitable price point? Maybe eventually. Probably not tomorrow. Meanwhile, Zoom is using all this newfound fame and money to move their service package forward.
Summary: The engineering got them better than all the others. The pandemic got them the attention they needed. Public mind share is theirs for now. They are working to stay ahead, but if their margins stay fat, others will spend boatloads to get a piece of the action.
People continually miss out on what Zoom REALLY is.
Zoom is not a video call app and so it does not compete with Skype or Facebook or WhatsApp…at least not where it counts.
Zoom IS a cloud based communications platform. Really think about what that means; what it can encompass in the future. If you can’t imagine anything you should go read more science fiction ;). Zoom is just video like Google was just search, or just ads.
Don’t forget about all the other things Zoom does: https://discussion.fool.com/beyond-zoom-video-integrate-apps-pho…
Don’t forget about all the verticals that Zoom is custom-building solutions for: Education, Medical, Government. This will continue
Don’t forget all of the above. Moat, stickiness, disruptor, brand recognition, whatever you value as a measure…it is all there in my opinion.