Zoom rival BlueJeans to shut down the video conferencing app

BlueJeans, the video conferencing app that became an overnight success during the COVID-19-induced lockdowns, is shutting down. As reported by 9to5Google, members of the BlueJeans service have started receiving an email stating that the app is "shutting down." In the initial shutdown phase, the free version of the video conferencing app will no longer be available as of August 31. Customers, mainly businesses with the paid version of BlueJeans, will likely have a more extended period to transition. The email must indicate whether paid members will receive a refund once the app is fully uploaded.

The report citing the official email from BlueJeans says: "If you have saved any recordings on BlueJeans, you may download them prior to August 31, after which time, your content will be deleted in accordance with the BlueJeans privacy policy." The official BlueJeans website still needs to reflect this update.

First launched in 2009, BlueJeans was acquired by American telecommunications company Verizon in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19-induced lockdowns. The merger was worth approximately $400 million. In 2020, Airtel also collaborated with Verizon to bring BlueJeans to more customers in India.

Before Google Meet and Microsoft Teams became mainstream among business customers and others, BlueJeans was considered Zoom's biggest rival. It was also popular with many business customers, as it was among the few options that provided video conferencing capabilities for a large group. Many customers also later feared using Zoom due to its ties to China. Zoom also faced security issues during the pandemic. Many strangers could also join private calls, which many began to call "Zoombombing".

At the time of the BlueJean acquisition in 2020, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said the video conferencing platform had 15,000 paying customers. CNBC reported in 2020 that Facebook, LinkedIn and IBM-owned RedHat were among its clients. In an interview with Business Insider in 2020, BlueJeans co-founder Krish Ramakrishnan also said that BlueJeans witnessed a "300 per cent increase in traffic and video usage in just three months (from January to March)." Ramakrishnan also suggested that video conferencing will clearly "become a more widely used technology."

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated the growth of other video conferencing platforms. In just a few months, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet (then Hangout), and even WhatsApp raised the limit for free users to join video calls. Many of these platforms implemented features like screen sharing and subtitles for free clients.