By Stephen Nellis SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Microsoft has combined the separate marketplaces for its artificial intelligence tools aimed at businesses into one offering, it said on Thursday. It previously offered tools for software developers, who use its Azure cloud computing service, on one marketplace and applications and so-called “agents” – AI tools designed to carry out tasks […]
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Microsoft merges business-focused AI app stores
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By Stephen Nellis
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Microsoft has combined the separate marketplaces for its artificial intelligence tools aimed at businesses into one offering, it said on Thursday.
It previously offered tools for software developers, who use its Azure cloud computing service, on one marketplace and applications and so-called “agents” – AI tools designed to carry out tasks on behalf of human users within applications – on another.
Starting on Thursday in the United States and rolling out globally in the coming weeks and months, Microsoft will be moving them all onto its new “Microsoft Marketplace” aimed at corporate technology buyers.
Apps and services on the marketplace will be streamlined for easy use with existing Microsoft products. And Microsoft customers will pay for them via their existing Microsoft billing relationships, Alysa Taylor, the company’s chief marketing officer for commercial cloud and AI, told Reuters.
Unlike consumer app stores, Microsoft will not charge a commission on apps available on the marketplace.
Instead, Microsoft charges a publishing fee to apps listed there, and then makes money from whatever Microsoft cloud services developers selling on the marketplace may be using, Taylor said.
Apps on the store must pass a security and compliance review from Microsoft to ensure that businesses using them will be able to control what corporate data they access, she added.
“There’s a gate to get into the marketplace,” Taylor said.
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Joe Bavier)