India’s richest man launches Zoom rival

Reliance Jio, India’s biggest carrier has officially launched a video-conferencing app called JioMeet that can support up to 100 participants in one meeting, rivalling Zoom.

The company had first announced the service on April 30, and now it has made JioMeet available for everyone.

The launch of JioMeet comes in a timely manner as tens of millions of people in India are homebound amid coronavirus pandemic, working from home and using video conferencing services for work and to stay in touch with friends.

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The company began beta testing JioMeet in May this year and said that the video conferencing service offers “enterprise-grade” host controls which comprises password protection on each call, multi-device login support (up to five devices), and ability to share screen and collaborate.

Jio Platforms says a free call can be made uninterrupted for “up to 24 hours”.

It boasts features such as the ability to switch “seemingly” from one device to another, a ‘waiting room’ to ensure participants seek permission before entering a call and a ‘Safe Driving Mode’ for commuting participants.

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There is not much information available on its security and privacy aspects, however, Reliance Jio did announce that the service is encrypted but did not elaborate whether calls are end-to-end encrypted.

The video-conferencing service is available for use through Chrome and Firefox browsers on desktop, as well as through standalone apps for macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android, and an Outlook plugin.

You could also download JioMeet for Android and iOS both.

Reliance also recently launched online grocery service with JioMart, in a move aimed at rivaling Amazon local unit and Walmart Flipkart in the huge Indian market.

The article was originally published on TechCrunch.