‘Agents are very harsh customers’: Microsoft exec warns many apps will lose pricing leverage

What happened

‘Agents are very harsh customers’: Microsoft exec warns many apps will lose pricing leverage, according to GeekWire. His comments come as Amazon blocks Meta's Muse agent from shopping on its site. Microsoft’s Charles Lamanna, executive vice president of Copilot, Agents and Platform, left, speaks with Madrona Managing Director Matt McIlwain at Madrona’s IA40 Summit in Seattle on Wednesday. Microsoft is a software and software development company based in Redmond.

That’s bad news for a lot of apps. Agents will pick whatever service is cheapest, fastest and most reliable, he said, and they’ll move people to another one quickly.

Apps that sit behind agents will have a hard time holding on to pricing power or customer loyalty. “Thick” apps are where people spend most of their workweek, such as CAD programs, contact-center software, or Excel for a full-time financial modeler.