Microsoft to separate Teams Software in Europe
By MYBRANDBOOK
Microsoft has said that it will alter how it sells its Teams videoconferencing service to corporate clients in Europe in an effort to allay concerns raised by an antitrust investigation by the European Union. It intends to provide corporate clients the option of purchasing a less expensive version of its productivity suites that exclude the videoconferencing software.
“We believe this is a constructive step that can start to lead to immediate and meaningful changes in the market," said Nanna-Louise Linde, Microsoft’s Vice President for European government affairs.
Microsoft planned to offer versions of its productivity suites that don’t include Teams for 2 euros less each month, equivalent to $2 a month. That change would apply to most business customers in the region, the company said, and Teams would still be available for new customers to buy separately.
Customers who already pay for a Microsoft productivity suite with Teams, and a small subset of new customers, can continue to have those products packaged together if they want. The company said it would also make it easier for customers using rival apps and services to display and edit documents and other products that were created using Microsoft’s productivity tools.
Microsoft in a blog said the changes would take effect at the beginning of October and apply in the European Economic Area, a group of European countries that excludes the U.K. The changes will also apply in Switzerland.
The European Commission, the bloc’s executive body, said that it had taken note of Microsoft’s announcement. When it launched its investigation in July, the commission said it was concerned that Microsoft’s practice of bundling the Teams app with its productivity software could amount to an abuse of the company’s dominant position. The commission also alleged that Microsoft might have limited interoperability between its productivity suites—which include Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint—and other products that compete with Teams.
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