Nespresso more open source in France

This story is not necessarily ‘new’, but it deserves receiving some, albeit belated, focus.

Nespresso no longer has a monopoly on coffee pods that they sell for their coffee making machines. They now have to create a little space for their rivals.

Parent company Nestlé has reached a settlement with antitrust authorities in France, agreeing to change their commercial behaviour in the country after evidence was found that they were trying to force their rivals out of the coffee capsule market.

Two competitiors, DE Master Blenders and Ethical Coffee Company, complained a number of years ago about this, claiming that Nespresso was, allegedly, abusing their market leading position.

Nespresso enjoy a loft position in Europe, especially Western European nations, where sales of their coffee machines have steadily risen, reaching sales of 10m units in 2013 – and France is a key territory accounting for a quarter of Nespresso’s global purchases.

It is reported that Nespresso users were directed to only use licensed capsules and that warranties would be suspended for customers who used non-Nespresso branded pods in their machines.

The change will see the company remove customer focused notices about compliance with the Nespresso brand and will now notify rival coffee pod-makers about any potential changes three months in advance.

This decision, and acceptance, harks back to the battle that Keurig has been fighting, unsuccessfully, in America. Though the with the launch of the Keurig 2.0 machine later this year, Keurig Green Mountain has made it clear that they plan to adopt a form of digital rights management that will likely test current anti-competition laws and hackers alike.