Fuze Box Nov. 11 launched Fuze Meeting for Android, a free Web conferencing application that could appeal to corporate road warriors who need to conduct virtual meetings on the go from mobile phones and tablets.
The app works on phones and tablets based on Google’s Android 2.2 operating system or later. This means it will run on the Motorola Droid X and HTC Evo 4G smartphones.
As for tablets, Fuze Box said the app has been optimized for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and will “work best on 1024 x 600 tablets for now.” Android tablets based on Android 2.3, which is optimized for tablets, are expected in 2011.
Mobile meetings will increasingly become the norm rather than exception. Few people would say taking a virtual meeting via a 4-inch smartphone is efficient, even on screens as crisp as offered by an iPhone 4 or Samsung Galaxy S device. However, tablets with 7-inch or 10-inch screens are another story, providing users who don’t want to lug around a laptop or netbook an acceptable medium with which to conduct face-to-screen meetings.
To that end, Fuze Meeting for Android includes VOIP (voice over IP), allowing users to attend a meeting with their tablet. Users can also view shared computer desktops from an Android phone or tablet.
When the meeting host designates an Android attendee as a presenter, users can share video or image files by uploading from their device.
However, the Android app is an attendee-only app, which means users can’t initiate a meeting from the program. Fuze Box will upgrade the software to let traveling workers host meetings from the Android device in early 2011.
Fuze Meeting for Android comes two months after Fuze Box launched Fuze Meeting for iPad. This app lets users host and moderate meetings from an iPad.
eWEEK tested this app and found it to be very functional and efficient.
Fuze Box is seeking a competitive advantage over rivals such as Cisco Systems and Citrix.
These providers already offer iPad applications, but Fuze Meeting for iPad was the first online meeting app that lets users host a meeting from the iPad, not just join a meeting.