Microsoft is bringing Cortana to Android and iOS

Scorpus

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microsoft cortana android ios voice assistant

Microsoft will soon give people one less reason to purchase a Windows Phone, as its digital assistant, Cortana, is reportedly headed to Android and iOS as a standalone application.

At this stage Microsoft has only hinted at when Cortana will hit competing mobile platforms, with managing director of Microsoft Research, Eric Horvitz, saying that "the next roll out of Cortana" is scheduled for sometime this fall. This places its release around the same time as Windows 10, which Microsoft is also working to integrate Cortana into.

As well as bringing Cortana to more mobile platforms, Microsoft is working on a major update to the virtual assistant that uses research from "Einstein", an artificial intelligence project at Microsoft Research. Details are light on at this stage, but it was mentioned that Microsoft hopes Einstein will transform Cortana into "the first intelligent 'agent' which anticipates users needs".

The choice to bring Cortana to other mobile platforms is all part of CEO Satya Nadella's plan to increase the reach of Microsoft's services. Rather than attempting to get users to switch to their operating systems, Microsoft can gain users of their software platforms and services by offering tools like Cortana on other OSes.

Unfortunately the news likely won't please Windows Phone fans, who have felt neglected by Microsoft for quite some time. Now that one of the main selling points of the OS is moving to other platforms, it leaves Windows Phone users with few truly exclusive features.

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But if you already use Google's voice thingy on Android why on earth would you want this Cortina thing? Personally I've found absolutely no use for these personal assistant apps, I've just used them to play the fool for a short time then lost interest. I'll never get used to talking to an inanimate object.
 
I can type my queries into the browser fast enough anyway so very rarely use any voice search capability.
 
This is kind of cool. I've been playing with Windows 10, and I want Cortana to do much more! It works fairly well for some things. But I should be able to ask her to open the printer control panel for me, eject the CD-Rom, or find me an application which can edit AVI file formats. (Or, tell me how much energy did I use last month in my house!) I want to be able to rely on Cortana for nearly every thing that I do, and when she's just a voice to speech search translator for Bing I'm reminded that I'm looking at version 1.0. Some day, I think this will be a very useful interface to simplify Windows.
 
Cortana still beta there is a lot she can't do yet. Microsoft could make this better assistant. I use her everyday. She keeps saying "sorry the internet is not working" I would like to talk who's in charge of the Cortana Beta Team they need to fix some of Cortana bugs. Really bad on Windows 8.1 phone. I told her to Call Bob home "she said there is no Bob home" LOL
 
To the contrary of what the author said, as a Windows phone user, I gain nothing if Cortana is not available to Android and iPhone users. I am glad that Microsoft lets their software team stretch their limits while expanding the reach of their services. That ensure that Windows Phone has to survive on its own merits, which it should if most people would just give it a try. As a consumer, I really like the new way MS is adopting.
 
I personally like that they're making their services available on other platforms. Using a article syncing voice assistant across Windows PC's, tablets and phones --- no matter the OS is a pretty nice idea. One that Android and Apple haven't quite gotten around to.
 
But you know what might be really nice, is rather than concentrate efforts on iPhone and Android users, how about have Windows Phone users for other regions given a bit of love, after all we have bought a Windows Phone not a competing OS.

I know it's unusual, but how about looking after your paying customer first!
 
I think the Microsoft become a more open company will benefit more people, that's good!
 
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