Microsoft is developing a new voice personal assistant application dubbed, Cortana, to take on Apple’s Siri feature.
Anticipated to be launched in early 2014, the new app is claimed to be better than Windows Phone’s existing voice command capabilities and enable user interaction with the device via natural voice commands, similar to Apple’s Siri and Google’s Google Now.
According to reports from ZDNet, Cortana would not only enable user interaction with their phones via voice commands, while also change the total ‘shell’ of the future variants of Windows Phone, Windows and the Xbox One OS.
The latest move also implies that a voice driven user experience will turn out to be an integral part of the US software major’s future smartphone, desktop and gaming consoles.
Reports also reveal that Cortana would offer data related to weather, notifications, and calendar, in addition to alarms, phone calls and the app would also be location-aware.
Microsoft has already revealed its plan to acquire Nokia’s handset business, patents and mapping services for $7.2bn (£4.6bn) to enhance its market share in mobile devices area.
Recently, Microsoft also revealed plans to add Xbox Music to Apple’s iOS and Android devices, in addition to free streaming on Xbox Music via Web, rivalling similar services offered by Apple’s iTunes, Spotify and Pandora.
