Microsoft’s Cortana headed to Android and iOS

The only way to compete against the digital personal assistant market is to be better and more available than the rest of the competition. It's along this line of thinking that Micrsoft has decided to bring Cortana to additional operating systems, instead of limiting her to Windows.

"We're defining the competitive landscape… of who can provide the most supportive services that make life easier, keep track of things, that complement human memory in a way that helps us get things done," said Eric Horvitz, managing director of Microsoft Research.

In addition to Windows, Cortana will be heading to phones and tablets that run on iOS and Android as a standalone application. The digital personal assistant is not simply an application on the Windows Phone for Windows 10, she is woven into the fabric of those two systems.

In order to keep with the competition (and blow them out of the water), Microsoft is developing a more advanced version of Cortana, codenamed Einstein. This updated version will improve Cortana's "awareness" and will enable her to complete more tasks.

Microsoft should make a hologram for Cortana too…

[Rueters]