One of the more surprising announcements that Microsoft has made over the past few months is that the company will be bringing its Cortana virtual assistant to both Android and iOS. While we’ve heard next to nothing else about this since the announcement, a recent leak of Cortana working on Android forced Microsoft to comment that it is, in fact, working on an Android version of Cortana and that it will be launching within the next few weeks.
Following an apparent leak of Cortana for the Android platform, Microsoft released comment indicating that it is in fact testing its digital assistant for the Google platform, and will cut it live in short order. The full quote is as follows: “In the spirit of the Windows Insider Program, we’re testing the Cortana for Android beta with a limited number of users in the U.S. and China before releasing the beta publicly in the next few weeks.” So all that cross-platform talk wasn’t a charade. Expect Cortana to land on Android and, later, iOS. Cortana is a key component of Windows 10, competing head-to-head with Google’s Now service, and Apple’s Siri tool. Each works to accept voice input from users, converting it into actions, reminders, searches, and the like. All three are nascent, but promising. In the ever-glorious platform wars, we’ve broached another front.