The Zoom Boom💥
COVID cases rise, asteroid to pass by Earth, and Zoom is here to stay.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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So let’s go ahead and get started:
Zoom boom💻
Despite its security flaws, Zoom has been the most widely used video calling platform during these lock-downs. Right from office conference calls to teachers taking online classes, it has been a quarantine favorite to keep the work going.
As a result, the company’s revenue has increased 169% from the previous year to nearly $328 million during the first 3 months of this year, compared to $122 million in the quarter last year.
In its earnings release Zoom revealed that it has over 2.65 lakh customers/companies (with more than 10 employees use the tool), and compared to last year that number has grown by 354%.
Before the lockdown began the company had about 14 million users in March but recent numbers show that the number of active users had crossed 175 million.
In one of our previous newsletters “University Goes Virtual” we have written about how the video calling platform is helping Universities conduct online classes as well as the security flaws one should lookout for.
Digital payment boost 🚕
In a bid to make the economy more resilient and help it adapt to digital infrastructure, the Southeast Asian ride hailing giant Gojek (HQ’d in Indonesia) has raised funding from Facebook and Paypal. Gojek had launched Gopay to help small businesses gain more access to the digital economy and to reduce the dependence on cash to operate (similar to products like PayTM in India).
These latest funds acquired by the ride hailing company will be directed towards developing more digital financial products for consumers as well as MSMEs in Asia.
We had written about how the pandemic is helping the boom of contact less payments with 50%+ growth rates in many parts of the world.
Also, as a part of the deal PayPal’s payment options will be integrated with GoPay which will connect users to PayPal’s network of over 25 million merchants globally.
“STOP COVID” app🛑
To stop more COVID-19 outbreaks and manage the virus flare-ups, France has launched an official corona tracing app making it the first European company to deploy such a smartphone tech.
The app works by using low energy Bluetooth signals and uses pre-uploaded government data which helps users who test positive to notify others in their vicinity so that they can seek treatment or immediately isolate themselves.
France has begun a phased reopening allowing people to go to restaurants, parks, cafes, museums. The app was launched on Tuesday and made available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
It remains to be seen how widely people adopt it though.
Recession hits Australia😟
Due to the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus, Australia is suffering its first recession in 3 decades.
According to reports the country’s economy shrank 0.3% in the first 3 months of the year. The GDP is likely to plummet 9% in the second quarter now. The fall in GDP came as people began spending less and practicing social distancing.
Earlier last month we saw how recession in Japan was further aggravated due to the pandemic. Also, Germany seems to have officially entered a recession last week. Expect these counts to only tick upwards.
Chinese app detector removed from play store📱
As Anti-Chinese sentiment has been rising in India, Indians were downloading an app called “Remove China Apps” from the PlayStore hoping that it would help them identify and discard all Chinese apps from their phones.
But over 2 weeks after the launch, Google seems to have brought the hammer down, citing violations of PlayStore policies.
The app was downloaded over 4 million times before it was taken down, with nearly 160,000 Indian users giving it a 5 star rating.
Tweet of the day -
Action trumps waiting for the perfect time. Consistency wins over fresh starts.
In line with the series of posts we’ve made before, we hope this tweet gives you a nudge to get started or to keep you going if you’re onto something already.
Build something. Learn a skill. Do things you love.
What else are we Snackin’🍿
📈One lakh new cases in 15 days in India - Indian COVID-19 cases top 2 lakh with almost 50% of the newly reported cases coming in within the last 2 weeks. Mass migration, congestion in cities and attempts to reopen the economy are aiding transmission. Also, testing has also been increased in the past few weeks only.
👵The elderly account for 50% of India’s COVID-19 deaths - this is consistent with the numbers coming out of other hot beds across the world. US saw almost 40% casualties of the virus among older people as well. The virus seems to weaken resistance of those having existing conditions.
☄️Asteroid taller than Empire State building to pass by earth on June 6 - if 2020 hadn’t had enough in store for each of your apocalypse wishes already, we might have an asteroid coming slinging by us in a few days. It's massive, but so far seems harmless.
❓Australia PM asks for investigation into alleged assault of journalists - journalists were assaulted on live TV in the US in front of the White House as citizens protest in the past couple of days. Now the Aussie PM wants to dig deeper into what seems like an assault on journalist’s rights in foreign countries that are allies.
🚚First batch of 100 ventilators donated by the US to be shipped to India next week - we had written about how the US is sending India ventilators a couple weeks ago. The first batch of those will be shipped to us next week. These machines are timely as cases in India soar.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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