Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) launched its digital assistant Cortana for Android and iOS. The company is on a partnership with Cyanogen, an open source firmware based on Android’s operating system. The app debuted in China and the U.S. on Wednesday.
Although Cortana had been first released exclusively for Windows Phone on 2014, the company plans to extend the app to other platforms, and additionally, to integrate new features that allow users to connect with their PCs running Windows 10.
The app for Android and iOS will have the capability of tracking the user’s interests as well as flights, events and other information.
For Windows 10 users, Cortana is capable of sharing data between different sources such as smartphones running under Android or iOS and PCs. Cortana continues to run better on its original Windows Phone platform, however, developers aim to bring an improved version of the app to these other operating systems, which is why the partnership with Cyanogen comes in handy.
Marcus Ash, Microsoft’s manager of the Cortana program, explained how the company planned to integrate Cortana through Android’s base. The Cyanogen version will be capable of handling system features, such as network modes and the power of the device. It’ll also offer voice activation of the digital assistant.
“Cortana was created to be a truly personal digital assistant—available on the go, no matter where or when you need help, and on whatever device you carry,” wrote Ash.
Developer restrictions are, for now, the main reason Microsoft hasn’t been able to achieve a full integration of Cortana in rival systems despite Cyanogen’s help. The manager pointed out that they’ll start with some of the communication scenarios and then think about how they can continue to create more.
A possible form of expansion the company is planning is the “task continuation,” a feature for data sharing and resuming tasks while maintaining the capability to connect between devices. “Task continuation” isn’t yet available for iOS since the company’s restrictions prevent it from integrating, but those who own Android devices or run under Windows 10 can enjoy its perks.
According to Ash, we can expect some interesting work from Windows in the future.
Source: The Verge