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Offering a product for free or a significant discount with another product where a company has a substantial portion of that market to get a foothold and kill o
by placatedmayhem 3y ago
Offering a product for free or a significant discount with another product where a company has a substantial portion of that market to get a foothold and kill off competition in the free-/cheap-product's market is called "bundling" in anticompetitive regulations.
Indeed, this is exactly what is happening with Teams compared to, say, Slack (which is generally regarded as the better team chat) or Zoom (better video conferencing).
Read more here: https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/tying-sale-two-products https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/gui...
- proamdev123 3y agoThis link doesn’t say what you’re saying it does. From the link: > For competitive purposes, a monopolist may use forced buying, or "tie-in" sales, to gain sales in other markets where it is not dominant and to make it more difficult for rivals in those markets to obtain sales. This may limit consumer choice for buyers wanting to purchase one ("tying") product by forcing them to also buy a second ("tied") product as well. Teams is free, whether it’s obtained with Office or downloaded separately. Giving away a product for free doesn’t violate anti competition regulations.
- placatedmayhem 3y agoTeams is not free. It's been bundled for free with certain enterprise contracts. Here's list pricing for Teams: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/compare-microsoft-teams-business-options https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/compare-micr...
- PeterStuer 3y agoRemember Internet Explorer? Also a 'free' product whose bundeling ran afoul of anti competition regulation.
- cvalka 3y agoZoom and Slack shall die. Good riddance to both of them.