Microsoft (MSFT.O) has recently indicated that it will offer its communications and collaboration app Teams as a standalone product for distribution worldwide rather than with the Office product. The company is expected to discontinue the two EU products after analyzing performance since the unbundling six months ago. The EU is anticipating the continuation of the probe after submitting antitrust fines in some regulatory bodies.
Since then, the EU Commission has investigated Microsoft’s strategy of bundling the use of Office and Teams since Salesforce (CRM.N) filed a complaint with both applications in 2020.
As an initial try from Office 365, Teams became especially popular thanks to the video conferencing feature during the country’s lockdown in 2017. On the other hand, opponents claimed that bundling the products only gave Microsoft a natural advantage in the rivalry. As a dig against the complaints, Microsoft started distributing Teams and Office in the EU and Switzerland on August 31.
The company aims to gain the customer’s trust and, in response to the European Commission’s feedback from the beginning, has finally decided to extend the unbundling of Teams from the Microsoft 365 (M365) and Office 365 (O365) offerings worldwide. In addition, this move will also give multinational companies more freedom when they normalize their supply of intermediate goods and services among different regions.
Recently, in a blog post, Microsoft announced that it will roll out two new commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for markets outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland that do not include Teams. Furthermore, the company will have a separate Teams offering to sell customized for the needs of enterprise customers locally (in those regions).
Starting from the 1st of April, customers can continue with the present licensing agreements, renew, update, or switch to the new offerings by the market. Office for the new customers will be priced between the lower limit of $7.75 and the upper limit of $54.75, depending on the product type. Standalone Teams will be charged at $5.25. Price may fluctuate with introduction of new currency and geographical jurisdiction, Microsoft has not clarified prices of existing bundled products yet.
The fact that Microsoft stopped splitting Teams won’t be the full rescuer that stops EU antitrust claims; however, it is a decision made to alleviate the concerns. Criticism claims that the payment amount and similar tools for the rival email services on the website should be verified again. Under the European Commission, charges of antitrust are expected to be imposed on Microsoft within this year. In case of an antitrust violation charge, Microsoft can spend up to 10% of its global figure as a fine, eventually leading to severe financial results for the technology innovator.
