However, Cortana will do more than just take on Apple's Siri and Google's Google Now. The report suggests that it may take it a few steps further and serve as the voice 'backbone' across the entire Windows Ecosystem.
"The technology is at the very least a potentially major upgrade for Windows Phone users. It could also be a validation of Steve Ballmer's 'One Microsoft' blueprint, and of the company's cash-hemorrhaging Bing search engine, whose intelligence engine Cortana is expected to use."
From a purely capability perspective, Cortana will aim to outshine both Siri and Google Now thanks to the Satori technology Microsoft currently implements in Bing in the form of intelligently providing indirectly-related content to a user's search (i.e. a Twitter or Facebook account when someone searches for a celebrity or athlete). Microsoft hopes that integrating this technology with Cortana will help win-over unconvinced developers.
Cortana may also prove to be the reason why Microsoft has decided to stick with Bing despite billion dollar losses. Microsoft's persistence in Bing may pay off if it becomes the glue that helps bring all the Microsoft product pieces together. And Cortana could be the necessary piece to help deliver that 'unified' experience Microsoft is envisioning.
And if Bing senior developer Steffan Weitz's fire-fueling words to CNET back in July are any indication, Microsoft is serious with Cortana and seriously convinced that they have what it takes for a winning recipe. Here's what he said:
...telling CNET that Siri and Google Now "have a fairly shallow understanding of the world," and that Microsoft will not ship a competitor until it can disrupt the market. "We could come out with something like [Siri and Google Now], but it wouldn't be state of the art," he said, noting that Satori's brain is powered by more than 50,000 nodes in Mircosoft's cloud."
Microsoft is confident indeed. But will Cortana be all that it's made out to be? Can it leapfrog Apple and Google offerings and become the queen of digital assistants? Time will tell, but your opinions are more than welcome! I'd love to know what you think. *To read the full article, click the aforementioned link in the first paragraph of the post.*
(Cortana in Halo 4. Source: Google Images/pushselectmagazine)