The Strategist

Cortana set to launch on Android and iOS platforms



06/04/2015 - 19:05





Cortana set to launch on Android and iOS platforms
Cross-platform selling may be the new marketing wave to strike the smartphone world. After years of duplicating or copycatting efforts by competitors only to create exclusive products that could run in one specific domain, the smartphone software industry is reckoning with the fact that consumers are still complaining of ‘not having it all’.
 
Microsoft, after spending millions in their mobile software products, has come to realize this change and has now confirmed that its voice assistant, Cortana, will be available for both Android and iOS smartphones, pitching it against Google Now and Siri respectively. Cortana has been lauded in the tech circles for being more cognitive that Siri in certain aspects. The App will be also made available in Microsoft’s new Windows 10 update to be launched by the end of this year. With the owners freeing Cortana to be available in more gadgets, it remains to be seen how big a reception it gets.
 
The Cortana App for Android and iOS will allow users to pose the same set of queries, though more limited than the app which comes preloaded in Windows phone. It will be on Google Play this month and on App store in the iPhones by the end of the year. The App can remind the user to get alerts and use the location to provide updates on traffic. It can also seamlessly interact with other Microsoft products including One Note, according to operating systems group vice president Joe Belfiore on the official Windows blog.
Meanwhile, third-party developers are bringing a little bit of Android into the Windows world, at least in the PCs. Amidous is an app that could allow Android to run on the Windows PC for $10. It is based on Android 4.2.2 currently and an update to Android 5.0 Lollipop will be released later this month.