Antitrust regulators from the European Commission (EC) are reportedly asking Microsoft's rivals if Teams has more market clout because it is bundled in with the company's popular Office suite of services.
The EC appears to be following up on a complaint by Slack with a questionnaire, seen by Reuters, that has been sent to Microsoft's rivals.
Slack's complaint was formally filed more than a year ago and accused Microsoft of "illegally" bundling the Teams app into its market-dominant productivity suite. The communications platform argued that this hampers competition because it is unremovable from the software suite, essentially forcing the app upon users.
At the time, Slack said it was confident of the "merits" of its own product, but said it couldn't ignore the "illegal behaviour" that deprives customers of access to the tools and services they want. The company said it simply wanted fair competition and asked the EC to be a neutral referee in a legal culmination of a very long tit-for-tat war between the two companies.
The EC had been very quiet on the subject, only confirming that it had received a complaint back in June, although according to the questionnaire seen by Reuters, it is looking at the market from 2016 to 2021. This would cover a year before Teams was launched (2017) and the four years after where it has rapidly grown.
RELATED RESOURCE
Four traits of leaders at connected companies
Creating more meaningful work experiences for employees
The Commission is reportedly asking if bundled products give companies access to data that could increase their market power and make it harder for rivals to compete, and is also keen to hear about the barriers to entry and expansion in the workplace apps market. What's more, participants were asked for a list of customers who have switched to Microsoft Teams or its bundled Office package.
Slack, which is a much older platform, has always maintained that Teams was a "poor copy" of its product and its CEO Stewart Butterfield has made various comments to that effect. Microsoft has not engaged in the war of words as much, but it has previously been fined by the EC for cases that involve tying services in other practices.
-
Should AI PCs be part of your next hardware refresh?AI PCs are fast becoming a business staple and a surefire way to future-proof your business
-
Westcon-Comstor and Vectra AI launch brace of new channel initiativesNews Westcon-Comstor and Vectra AI have announced the launch of two new channel growth initiatives focused on the managed security service provider (MSSP) space and AWS Marketplace.
-
'Digital hide-and-seek': Workers are wasting hundreds of hours a year sourcing the information they need to carry out their roleNews Knowledge workers globally are wasting a quarter of their working week tracking down information, new research from Atlassian has revealed.
-
Untethered: How CIOs and CISOs are paving the way for the new hybrid workforceWhitepaper Effective techniques to transition from exposed legacy infrastructure to an effective zero trust strategy
-
Unlocking the power of your digital servicesSponsored Businesses have invested significant cash into technology since COVID-19, but are they really getting their money's worth?
-
Delivering fast and secure digital experiences for the modern hybrid workforceWhitepaper A new approach to digital experience monitoring that can monitor the health of all systems
-
Collaboration is the glue that holds your business togetherSPONSORED A combination of productivity tools and cloud telephony can enable the best from your workforce
-
The future of work and the forgotten workforcewhitepaper How to deploy a mobile-first strategy so no one gets left behind
-
The case for an accelerated device refresh cycleWhitepaper Achieving a more cost-effective device lifecycle overall
-
Employees are choosing how they workWhitepaper And with the right secure digital strategy, this could be a great thing for your business: today and far into the future
