Microsoft has introduced its long-awaited answer to Siri and Google Now and it is indeed called Cortana, named after the artificial intelligence character from the company's flagship video game franchise Halo.
Microsoft's Joe Belfiore, head of Windows Phone product and design, unveiled the personal assistant software for Windows Phone onstage at the company's annual Build conference in San Francisco. It is being launched in beta for Windows Phone 8.1 -- rolling out over the next few months -- and will expand beyond the US to the UK and other countries over time.
"We think Cortana is the most personal digital assistant," Belfiore said.
Cortana is powered by Bing, and can perform many of the functions one has come to expect from artificial intelligence-style assistants, such as setting reminders and powering vocal updates to one's calendar.
The voice behind the software was reported back in January to be Jen Taylor, the voice actress of the character from the Halo series. Microsoft declined to comment back then on Taylor's involvement, but Cortana sounded awfully like Taylor in the version unveiled today.
Reference:
Microsoft shows off Cortana for Windows Phone 8.1
http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-unveils-cortana-personal-assistant-for-windows-phone/
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