X is getting close to releasing a new professional video calling feature that will essentially give Zoom-like functionality natively inside the X app.
X has built a working version of its video conferencing platform, one that owner Elon Musk says they are already using for internal meetings at the company.

The new option will be displayed as a stand-alone option on the right-hand function bar, but this time it will enable full video streaming for those participating when it is enabled.
How many people will appear on screen has yet to be mentioned, but X's video calling feature, which it opened up to everyone in February, is much more restricted than the video chat features of its rivals.

So, presumably, X's conference calls will be capped at four participants on screen, though it may look to increase this to better match up with Zoom and other conference chat apps.

So with the update, it's another step towards Elon's vision for the platform to become an "everything app," which makes it help all your interactive and transactional needs in one place.

Indeed, when the audio and video calling function became available at X back in February, Musk announced he was doing away with his phone number now that X can serve to replace all of his telecommunication needs.

At the same time, though, basic functionality alone may not be enough to get more people more reliant on X. Even though Elon has a very grand vision for the app, the challenge he's thus far fought with is that nobody sees the value in these tools.

For example, as Musk claims, X is able to substitute your phone, but I do not believe most of the people are eager to shut down their devices and use it as a main connection tool yet. That's because you can do so many other things on your phone, including accessing X, so the value of having that functionality built in to the app does not feel all that meaningful.

Payments and banking are also on Musk's agenda, but consumers already have a wide range of choices on both fronts, and there will be no incentive to switch to a potentially less reliable, less secure payments/banking offering.

You can post long-form articles on X, but that means diluting any income that you may generate from the same on other platforms, including your own blog/mailing list.
In other words, if Elon wants people to make X some critical utility for millions of people, he'll probably have to throw in some bait. For these options do, after all provide a sort of alternative to other apps and services, but they are, at least at this point, definitely not better, or cheaper, or more functional in any particular way.

So, in short, it all comes down to two questions for the larger X project: Can Elon really make an everything app, as he talks about? And if he can do that, will people actually use it?

This pretty much is the prism through which I view this update as well. Sure, X's conference calling looks like it could offer a base alternative to Zoom or Google Meet. We already have these tools, though; they will certainly be functionally better than a freshly built platform, which is still working to add new elements.

Is X's choice any better than what already exists? I don't think so, and if it is not better, I don't see why people will adopt it at scale or that it will work as an enticement to get more people to sign up to X's Premium offerings.

But it is another feature in X, and if you do much of your work there, it is another option to consider.