For the marketing technique of selling several products together, see Product bundling. For the regulatory process in the telecommunications industry, see Local-loop unbundling.
Unbundling is the process of breaking up packages of products and services that were previously offered as a group, possibly even free.[1][2][3] Unbundling has been called "the great disruptor".[4]
Etymology
"Unbundling" means the "process of breaking apart something into smaller parts".[5] In the context of mergers and acquisitions, unbundling refers to the "process by which a large company with several different lines of business retains one or more core businesses and sells off the remaining assets, product/service lines, divisions or subsidiaries."[6]
Examples
Massive open online courses are "part of a trend towards the unbundling of higher education"[7] by providing access to recorded lectures, online tests, and digital documents as a complement to traditional classroom instruction.[3] Online program management providers are also increasingly unbundling services in higher education, which some argue "reflects increasing sophistication—and capacity—of colleges and universities as they launch new online programs."[8]
Software unbundling[2] Some IBM Computer software "products" were distributed "free" (no charge for the software itself, a common practice early in the industry). The term "Program Product" was used by IBM to denote that it is a chargeable item.[2]
One of IBM's COBOL Compilers was "PP 5688-197 IBM COBOL for MVS and VM 1.2.0" which one IBMer described as
PP := "Program Product" aka "you pay for it"
. By contrast, the same source had: Neither the F or D versions of the COBOL compiler were ever "rented" ... (or) even copyrighted...
The majority of software packages written by IBM were available at no charge to IBM customers. (Even non-IBM customers could pay (only) for the reproduction costs and get them from IBM. All this changed, of course, with New World (June 1969),[9] but that didn't alter the status of products released prior to that date."[2]: this and other tidbits is from a Looking-Back blog article
The addition of Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten Conference was described as part of a larger trend towards the unbundling of each university's broadcast rights to maintain profitability.[10]
The CEO of Mashable predicted that unbundled news contents' "microcontent sharing" via software like Flipboard[11] (Android and iOS), Zite and Spun (iPhone) would be a major trend in 2013.[12]
LinkedIn has embraced a multi-app strategy and now has a family of six separate apps—The LinkedIn 'Mothership' app and 'satellite' apps ranging from job search to tailored news [13]
The customers that live in large apartment complexes and multiple dwelling units can be unbundled in a way that allows multiple service providers to reach each of the different units.[14]
^Ryan, Patrick S; Zwart, Breanna; Whitt, Richard S; Goldburg, Marc; Cerf, Vinton G (2015-08-04). "The Problem of Exclusive Arrangements in Multiple Dwelling Units: Unlocking Broadband Growth in Indonesia and the Global South". The 7th Indonesia International Conference on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Small Business (IICIES 2015): 1–16. SSRN2637654. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)