Microsoft, the world’s software giant, has announced that its chat and video program, Microsoft Teams, will be sold independently from its Office product in nations throughout the world.
This comes six months after it unbundled the two products in European markets as part of an effort to avoid a potential EU antitrust sanction.
Microsoft said in a blog post that it will provide a new line of commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites without Teams in regions outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
In some regions, the technology company also launched a stand-alone Teams solution for Enterprise customers.
Customers can continue their current license package, renew, update, or switch to the new deals starting yesterday, April 1st.
As a result, the price of Office Suite without the Teams app ranges from $7.75 to $54.75 depending on the product, while Teams Standalone costs $5.25.
Teams, which was launched to Office 365 for free in 2017, eventually supplanted Skype for Business and gained popularity throughout the pandemic, thanks in part to its video conferencing.
However, competitor businesses have complained to the EU antitrust commission that putting the products together provides Microsoft an unfair advantage.
Since 2020, the European Commission has been investigating Microsoft’s coupling of Office and Teams in response to a complaint lodged by Salesforce regarding Slack, a competitor workplace messaging tool.
In response, Microsoft stated last year that the two products would be sold separately in the European Union and Switzerland beginning in October.
As a result, the corporation made concessions that lessened its authority over what software computer makers may install on their products.
Some analysts anticipate that alternative internet browsers would gain popularity as a result of Microsoft’s separation of Teams from Office, but this may not be as dramatic as previously thought.
According to Sensor Tower data, the amount of Microsoft Teams’ user base has remained almost stable since it was unbundled from Microsoft 365 and Office Suites in Europe in October 2023.
According to the market intelligence firm’s estimates, the monthly active users of Microsoft Teams’ mobile app remained relatively stable in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Both stayed at 19 million.
Some industry watchers, however, believe that Microsoft’s unbundling may not be sufficient to avoid EU antitrust penalties, which are expected to be levied against the business in the coming months.
Rivals remain skeptical of Microsoft’s increased price and its influence on competition pricing.
They are also skeptical of Microsoft’s willingness to let their messaging apps work alongside Office Products.
