As pandemic trends slow, Zoom loses another competitor

Verizon has stated that the Basic and free trial versions of the BlueJeans software, which competes with Zoom, will end on August 31.

An email stating that the app is being “sunset” was sent to BlueJeans subscribers, according to 9To5Google.

“We appreciate your use of BlueJeans by Verizon services. We would like to inform you that we have decided to retire our whole line of BlueJeans products. Due to this, BlueJeans Basic and the free trial will no longer be offered as of August 31, 2023, and your access to the services will also be terminated. You may still use these services up until then, it was added.

The business also advised customers to download any recordings they had stored to BlueJeans before August 31 since, after that date, the material will be erased in compliance with BlueJeans’ privacy policy.

Businesses and people used tools like Google Meet and Zoom to remain in touch early on during the Covid-19 blackout.

Other companies, like Verizon, saw an opportunity to launch their own solutions in the fast expanding video conferencing industry.

BlueJeans, a business-oriented video program that launched in 2011, was purchased by Verizon in May 2020.

Google and Verizon worked together to install the BlueJeans software on Verizon’s (since-discontinued) Glass Enterprise Edition 2 smart glasses starting in 2022.

More recently, BlueJeans established a free tier in March of this year, opening the app to a far wider audience and putting it in direct competition with Google Meet and Zoom, two other free consumer-ready services.