Report: Microsoft Cortana Headed to iOS, Android

Microsoft (MSFT) will tailor an advanced version of its Cortana personal assistant to the Apple (AAPL) iOS and Google (GOOG) Android platforms as a standalone app for smartphones and tablets soon after the vendor fully deploys it on Windows 10 this fall, according to a new report.

The Cortana app, which Microsoft debuted in 2014 for Windows Phone-based smartphones as an alternative to Apple’s Siri, will appear for the first time on rival operating systems as part of chief executive Satya Nadella’s plan to sell Microsoft software on any device or platform, Reuters reported.

“This kind of technology, which can read and understand email, will play a central role in the next roll out of Cortana, which we are working on now for the fall time frame,” Eric Horvitz, Microsoft Research managing director, told Reuters in an interview.

“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,” he said.

Horvitz refused comment on the vendor’s rumored plans to expand Cortana beyond Windows, Reuters said. Horvitz is part of Microsoft’s Einstein project, an internal reference to the vendor’s artificial intelligence initiative that has aided the Cortana effort.

“Einstein was brilliant about space and time,” Horvitz said. “It’s using brilliance about space and time generally in our agents.”

In other words, Cortana’s potential is based on its ability to know a user’s location, time and what they’re doing. Rather than serving as an advanced agent responding to requests, Cortana’s value will reside in its ability to recognize speech, search and incorporate machine learning to anticipate a user’s needs.

In late January, at Microsoft’s Windows 10 unveiling, the vendor said Cortana will be available as an essential feature of the Windows 10 operating system. Microsoft earlier had disclosed that Cortana was under development for other languages besides English, including French, Italian, German and Spanish.

The voice-enabled assistant currently is available on Windows Phone 8.1-based smartphones sold in the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, India and the U.K.