Avast in talks to merge with Norton

[Viking]

I loved PC tools. Protection is very good but heavy product. According to its time, it had successful programs such as threatfire.

I miss PC Tools products.

 

[XLR8R]

Just be patient. Norton will combine the best features from its purchases.

They're currently packaging all the key features of Avira and BullGuard into SDKs, which means that they plan to become an OEM player. Of course, the entire Symantec legacy tech will likely be dumped and replaced with the Avast/AVG tech if this merger is successful. Norton's entire rationale post-Symantec is that they need to acquire enough of a technology base to become competitive again.

As of right now, Avira is being neutered, with the business products phased out and in future, Avira's paid offering will just be Avira Prime for both consumer and SMB segments. The following quote is relevant:

Avira has been steadily phasing out our antivirus for business product line to focus our efforts on strengthening and growing our portfolio of products for end-consumers, small businesses, and OEM technology partners

BullGuard mainly sells end-user products and I am not seeing much traction for the Small Office Security in recent times. My sources said, Avira's OEM business is slated for continuation, meaning that possibly NLL plans for a BBK-type situation, selling multiple branded products with the same internal tech plus or minus some modules/SDKs that can also be sold to third parties.

 

[avrookie]

Is there really a significant reduction in competition if Norton buys Avast? MS Defender is coming pre-installed on machines, there's still Kaspersky, Trend Micro, McAfee, etc. Do you all disagree?

 

[forgottenuser79643]

Is there really a significant reduction in competition if Norton buys Avast? MS Defender is coming pre-installed on machines, there's still Kaspersky, Trend Micro, McAfee, etc. Do you all disagree?

For the most part, the problem lies in jurisdiction, reputation, ownership and above all consumer-trust. Competition is actually a good thing, though both NortonLifeLock inc. and Avast inc. have quite a few brands (acquisitioned or otherwise) under their respective umbrella's. For example Sophos is owned by an investment firm, Panda was acquired last year by WatchGuard, or some players whom are less active on the consumer market in recent years such as G-Data to name one.

 

[show-Zi]

Is there really a significant reduction in competition if Norton buys Avast? MS Defender is coming pre-installed on machines, there's still Kaspersky, Trend Micro, McAfee, etc. Do you all disagree?

I have an impression that they make a team by gathering famous players. I think MT members are interested in unknown and excellent players. In that sense, I don't think competition will be affected.

 

[Nightwalker]

Is there really a significant reduction in competition if Norton buys Avast? MS Defender is coming pre-installed on machines, there's still Kaspersky, Trend Micro, McAfee, etc. Do you all disagree?

I somewhat disagree, in the corporate market nothing will change, but for the home user? Avast + AVG is a big player, especially for users that dont want to pay for an antivirus and dont want to use Microsoft Defender.

Another thing is that Avast actually does have a good engine and does a respectable job in the research and cybercrime prevention fields.