Microsoft has all its major software services and related apps readily available on iOS and Android executing its strategy of “Mobile First”. In some case the apps available on iOS and Android are more advanced and feature-packed than what we have on Windows Phone, for example, Microsoft office touch-optimized version which is missing from Windows Phone 8.1.
Microsoft seems taking its generosity one notch up by now bringing features considered exclusive and vital for growth of “Windows Phone” as an alternative platform. So, here we are referring to Cortana, that is supposedly making its way to iOS and Android as per a report from “Reuters”. Now, it is bit difficult to decipher the reason behind such move (if it holds true), when Apple and Google hardly care about bringing their services to Windows platform. One can argue about “Mobile First” focus of Microsoft but it is difficult to visualize it helping Microsoft in strengthening its mobile presence and its own mobile platforms will lose one of the key exclusive features. As per the report,
Microsoft has been running its “personal assistant” Cortana on its Windows phones for a year, and will put the new version on the desktop with the arrival of Windows 10 this autumn. Later, Cortana will be available as a standalone app, usable on phones and tablets powered by Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) iOS and Google Inc’s (GOOG.O) Android, people familiar with the project said.
Now some good news!! It seems Cortana will become more advanced by becoming more intelligent. An artificial intelligence project called “Einstein” will help Cortana in becoming first intelligent ‘agent’ which can anticipate users needs.
Microsoft is working on an advanced version of its competitor to Apple’s Siri, using research from an artificial intelligence project called “Einstein.”
This kind of technology, which can read and understand email, will play a central role in the next roll out of Cortana, which we are working on now for the fall time frame,” said Eric Horvitz, managing director of Microsoft Research and a part of the Einstein project, in an interview at the company’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters.
Still, Microsoft believes its work on speech recognition, search and machine learning will let it transform its digital assistant into the first intelligent ‘agent’ which anticipates users needs. By comparison, Siri is advertised mostly as responding to requests. Google’s mobile app, which doesn’t have a name like Siri or Cortana, already offers some limited predictive information ‘cards’ based on what it thinks the user wants to know.
