You'll soon be able to use Zoom on smart display devices from Facebook, Amazon, and Google

• Zoom is expanding its hardware options for remote employees via partnerships with Google, Amazon, Facebook's smart speaker devices.
• This comes a month after Zoom announced a "Zoom for Home" product: a standalone screen priced at $599 made by DTEN.
• The Zoom will work on Facebook Portal, Google's smart display devices, and Amazon Echo Show devices and it won't cost anything to use it on those devices.

Zoom wants you to be able to make video calls from your smart speakers as remote work seems to be the norm for the foreseeable future. Zoom is making it possible for users to join video calls on Facebook's Portal, Google's smart display devices, and Amazon's Echo Show devices.

Zoom has seen its business surge during the coronavirus pandemic as video conferencing became essential to keep businesses running. It's recently been expanding further into hardware with a focus on helping remote employees: This announcement comes a month the company launched a "Zoom for Home" line of products.

The first product was a standalone screen priced at $599 and made by San Jose-based company DTEN. It's meant to improve the video call experience, and has three wide-angle cameras, an 8-microphone array to improve sound quality, and a touchscreen so it can be used as a real-time, interactive whiteboard during presentations. Zoom also worked with DTEN to make its Zoom Rooms hardware, which are its devices for conference rooms at offices.

Like the standalone devices, the new Zoom capabilities on smart displays are geared towards business professionals working from home, though consumers can use them too.There are no additional costs for using Zoom on these smart devices, beyond what a user might pay for the device itself or a Zoom account, the company said.

Zoom on Facebook Portal devices will be available in September. Google Assistant enabled smart display devices like Google Nest Hub Max and Amazon's Echo Show devices will both get Zoom by the end of the year, meaning that users will be able to start throwing out commands like, "Hey, Alexa join my Zoom meeting," or "Hey Google, join my next meeting."

"It's more apparent than ever that people are looking for easy-to-use displays for their video communications needs, both professionally and personally," said Oded Gal, Zoom's chief product officer, in a press release.

In addition to expanding video conferencing devices for remote workers, Zoom is also making it easier for companies to use Zoom's cloud-based conference room services and phone systems in the office.

In July, Zoom announced a new subscription offering for hardware, called Hardware as a Service, where customers can essentially rent devices on a monthly basis for conference rooms with Zoom Rooms or cloud phone services with Zoom Phone. Zoom said the benefit is a lower upfront cost, because companies don't have to pay full price for the devices, and the subscriptions include device upgrades every three years.

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