In October, Microsoft will begin separating the Teams platform from its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 productivity suites in EU markets.
The move comes to avoid further antitrust scrutiny, after the European Commission last month opened a formal antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s integration of the Teams platform with the Office productivity suite.
“We are announcing proactive changes that we hope will begin to address these concerns in a meaningful way, even as the European Commission’s investigation continues,” said Nana Louise Linde, Microsoft’s vice president for European government affairs. “These changes affect Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for business customers in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.”
The unbundling means enterprise customers in EU markets will be able to purchase Microsoft 365 subscriptions at a lower monthly price without Teams, or purchase a standalone version of Teams at €5 per month or €60 per year. Linde explained that the company sells these offers without TIMES at a lower price of 2 euros per month or 24 euros per year.
The separation process and new prices affect new subscribers only, as existing enterprise users can continue to renew plans and add or remove subscribers upon renewal, or even switch to new plans without Teams.
The separation is largely aimed at enterprises, as Microsoft continues to bundle Teams into Microsoft 365 Business plans offered to small businesses.
The company also offers the option to not use Teams, at a lower price of €1 per month for the Business Basic plan, or at a lower price of €2 per month for the Business Standard or Premium plans.
Besides dismantling Teams, Microsoft also plans to improve its documentation on interoperability with Microsoft 365 and Office 365 for competitors, such as Zoom and Slack for integration into Exchange, Outlook and Teams.
Microsoft also allows competitors to host Office web applications within their competing applications, as Microsoft does with Teams.
In July 2020, the Slack platform filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission, months after the start of the global pandemic, as Microsoft witnessed tremendous growth for its Teams product.
Slack alleged that Microsoft illegally linked a premium product to Office and forced its installation for millions, prevented its removal, and concealed the true cost to enterprise customers.
Microsoft is now waiting for EU regulators to decide if separating Teams from Office suites in EU markets is enough.
Source: Technical Portal