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Cortana, Microsoft’s virtual assistant that has been repeatedly “charged” with being the best in the business, is coming to iOS and Android, Microsoft announced today. The virtual assistant / companion app is an integral part of the Spartan, *cough* Edge browser from Microsoft and Windows 10, but the Redmond giant is not stopping there. The company has realized that there’s a lot of potential in expansion and consequently decided that Cortana needs to be available on every platform. That means that Cortana will no longer be proprietary to Windows Phone or Windows 10, instead migrating to iOS and Android devices, too.
The Cortana Android and iOS apps are going to be released in June, according to Microsoft, although the company said that the iOS version of Cortana might get side-tracked by a few weeks. As you can probably imagine, the Cortana app for iOS and Android won’t be as interesting and comprehensive as it is on Windows, because it can’t integrate with your OS as well as it can with Windows Phone. That means that voice activation will not be included, although diligent developers might be able to bypass that, at least on Android. Who knows?
Regardless, Cortana’s Notebook feature will be full-on activated on both mobile operating systems, which means that the virtual personal assistant will be able to tell your preferences and serve you relevant content. Since Cortana is essentially a different version of Siri and Google Now, it will be interesting to see how many features Microsoft can include in the iOS and Android apps. Bringing Cortana to iOS and Android is a big step for Microsoft, but it’s not all that was announced today.
Besides Cortana for iOS and Android, Microsoft today revealed that it would be launching yet another app for these platforms: Phone Companion. Phone Companion will let you integrate content across all your devices, and supposes that you will be able to access your entire document- or music library that resides on your laptop, from your Android or iOS smartphone. With a simple app. That sounds like an awesome Microsoft app, and we’re definitely looking forward to this one.
Although Cortana for iOS and Android will be live in June (most likely), Phone Companion is something we have to wait for a wee bit longer. According to Microsoft, the first beta of the app should go live in July, but the final version’s release date has not been disclosed thus far. If everything goes according to plan, Phone Companion will be released when Windows 10 launches. Let’s hope for the best! With the two new apps, Microsoft is setting sail towards the big leagues, and might just make a hardcore comeback. Now we just need to find out about new Microsoft Lumia phones.
