At the moment, Cortana is just an app for Android (and will also arrive later for iOS as an app) but things could change soon as there are possibility of Cortana being integrated into the upcoming version of Cyanogen OS.
According to a recent interview with Cyanogen CEO, Kirt McMaster, Cortana integration to Cyanogen OS is treated as a pressing matter for Microsoft and Cyanogen which could see the virtual assistant come as early as the next version of the OS.
In his words:
“Cyanogen is working with Microsoft to deeply integrate Cortana into the next version of Cyanogen OS. This is key to catapulting Cyanogen into the mass market, he asserts: Cortana is currently available as an app on Android, but in order for it to make a real difference, it needs to be able to be integrated at the OS level so that its full potential can be leveraged. When Apple launched Apple Music at WWDC, they showed the Siri integration with Apple Music. Siri doesn’t power Spotify like that so we can do these kind of things with for example, integration of Microsoft’s Cortana into the OS enabling natural language to power Spotify and other services.”
Both companies announced a strategic partnership in April to integrate popular Microsoft services into the Cyanogen OS platform. The services mentioned included Microsoft Office, OneNote, OneDrive, Outlook, Skype and Bing Services.
Even though Cortana was not mentioned it could possibly be classed as a Bing Service because it is powered by Bing. The Cyanogen official believes Microsoft’s digital Assistant is superior to the offerings of Apple (Siri) and Google (Google Now).
While Cyanogen is based on Android, the company isn’t reliant on Google’s core services and has always been vocal against Google whenever the opportunity arises. At a point, one of the company’s executive claims they have plans to take control of Android away from Google.
Starting next year, the company expects there would be dependencies on Google and within two – three years, there would be none at all. Cyanogen hopes its OS will be able to reach the level of Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows 10 Mobile.
Source: ZDNet
