Microsoft will sell its chat and video app Teams separately from its Office product worldwide. The tech giant's decision comes six months after separating the two products in Europe in an attempt to avoid a potential antitrust fine from the European Union.
"To ensure clarity for our customers, we are extending the steps we took last year to unbundle Teams from M365 and O365 in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to customers globally," a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters.
Doing so also addresses feedback from the European Commission by providing multinational companies more flexibility when they want to standardise their purchasing across geographies.
Teams was introduced at no additional cost in Office 365 in 2017. It later replaced Skype for Business and gained popularity during the pandemic, thanks to its video conferencing features.
Reuters explained that "for new commercial customers, prices for Office without Teams range from $7.75 to $54.75 depending on the product while Teams Standalone will cost $5.25. The figures may vary by country and currency. The company did not disclose prices for current packaged products.”
