Microsoft bringing Cortana to Apple's iOS via Windows 10 Phone Companion

Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2015
iOS is set to become the epicenter of a battle between personal digital assistant technologies from Apple, Google, and Microsoft, as the Windows maker revealed Tuesday that Cortana would join Siri and Google Now on Apple's mobile platform.


Microsoft's forthcoming standalone Cortana app on an Android device


Cortana's eventual appearance on iOS was outed in a new video detailing the features of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 10 Phone Companion system, which will allow iOS and Android users to synchronize data with a Windows 10-based computer. A release date is not yet known, with Cortana labeled simply "Coming soon."

"We're also gonna enable all Windows 10 PC users to take the intelligence of that Cortana system with them onto not just their Windows phone, but also their iPhone or Android phone as an app you can install on one of those devices," Microsoft's operating systems chief Joe Belfiore said during the video.





Cortana --?which Belfiore for some reason calls "the world's only personal digital assistant" --?was first announced last April alongside Windows Phone 8.1. Word of an iOS port surfaced in March of this year, with some sources suggesting that it may debut with an enhanced backend based on an artificial intelligence project dubbed "Einstein."

When Cortana does appear on the iPhone, it will join Apple's Siri and Google Now as personal assistant options for iOS users. Apple is known to be working on Siri enhancements of its own, notably bootstrapping a new internal search team that will enable Siri and Spotlight to more efficiently search for information.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24

    Cortana sounds like it should be a type of leather. 

  • Reply 2 of 24
    roakeroake Posts: 809member
    So... are they trying to make Cortana available on a system that doesn't suck, presumably to convey the idea that something about Microsoft doesn't suck, so that maybe people will think Windows 10 doesn't suck? Seems like a stretch.
  • Reply 3 of 24
    bubbaonebubbaone Posts: 11member

    Cue Microsoft bashers -- why can't technology enthusiasts embrace all companies???  The technology world as we know it would not exist without Microsoft, Google, and Apple.  And please, many of Apple's successes began as ideas at other companies that Apple improved upon and in many cases made them more successful.

  • Reply 4 of 24
    ddawson100ddawson100 Posts: 513member
    Ballmer's policy of ignoring other platforms has given way to Satya Nadella taking the obvious route to be everywhere.
  • Reply 5 of 24
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    ddawson100 wrote: »
    Ballmer's policy of ignoring other platforms has given way to Satya Nadella taking the obvious route to be everywhere.

    Ballmers idea wasn't bad. News like this is so weird, sounds like desperation for market share from the knockoff brands.


    When will S-Voice be available on iOS?
  • Reply 6 of 24
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    I still use Windows PC's, Not MAC for a number of reasons. I like the idea. How well the final results will be? I'm still not sure on Windows 10 until I see and use it. Windows 8/8.1 SUCKED for a number of reasons and was a half done OS. I like Windows 7 Pro and that's my main computer at home. I have my iPhone 6, iPad 3 and 3 Apple TV 3's. My Dad who now lives with me has his iPhone 6, iPad 2 and a Mac Mini. I don't have a problem working in both worlds. I've never used Cortana, but I like the competition. I've not used Google's either. If it goes into making SIRI even better, I'm all for it.
  • Reply 7 of 24
    thewhitefalconthewhitefalcon Posts: 4,453member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RegurgitatedCoprolite View Post

     

    Cortana sounds like it should be a type of leather. 


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtana

     

    Bungie's AI names come from legends normally.

  • Reply 8 of 24
    jimlatjimlat Posts: 12member
    Except that in this case, Cortana is a Halo AI reference...
  • Reply 9 of 24
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    I want to watch Siri and Cortana "work" together. ????
  • Reply 10 of 24
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Sounds about right. I fully expect the Windows Phone OS to disappear in a year or two. It has zero traction with consumers.
  • Reply 11 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I want to watch Siri and Cortana "work" together. ????

    A debate .... :D
  • Reply 12 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Sounds about right. I fully expect the Windows Phone OS to disappear in a year or two. It has zero traction with consumers.

    but ... but ... The Microsoft BB is coming to a shop near you soon ... (maybe) ... ;)
  • Reply 13 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    jimlat wrote: »
    Except that in this case, Cortana is a Halo AI reference...

    Can you use 'I' and Microsoft in the same sentence? 'A' yes ... 8-)
  • Reply 14 of 24
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Sounds like a "please use Cortana. Please use it. Pretty please" desperate move.
  • Reply 15 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    jungmark wrote: »
    Sounds like a "please use Cortana. Please use it. Pretty please" desperate move.

    Agreed. I can imagine the meeting at MS .. "Look the only way anyone will ever hear what's her name is if she is available on iOS or Android!"
  • Reply 16 of 24
    jimlat wrote: »
    Except that in this case, Cortana is a Halo AI reference...

    Halo is boooring. Even Bungie left the series.
  • Reply 17 of 24
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member

    This won't fly in iOS just like google voice "Ok Google". You need to open the app to use it and that's considered a failure in the first place. Apple integrated Siri with Home button and that is the advantage. One thing I have to admit, Google Voice recognition is better than Siri. It got words right for most of what I said.

  • Reply 18 of 24
    balsy2001balsy2001 Posts: 48member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RegurgitatedCoprolite View Post

     

    Cortana sounds like it should be a type of leather. 


    That or a model of Toyota cars.

  • Reply 19 of 24
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,285member
    since nearly all of the mobile wealth exists on iOS, it makes sense that it is the battlefield
  • Reply 20 of 24
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    jbdragon wrote: »
    I still use Windows PC's, Not MAC for a number of reasons.

    hey just a tip for you -- it's "Mac", as in in short for Macintosh. not "MAC", which in the computer world is a media access controller.
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