Microsoft announced in June 2023 that it would be killing Cortana, the company’s voice-activated virtual assistant. The standalone Cortana app for Windows will be discontinued in late 2023, and Cortana will no longer be available on Android or iOS devices.
Cortana was first introduced in 2014 as a voice assistant for Windows Phone devices. It was later ported to Windows 10 and other platforms, but it never really gained widespread adoption. In recent years, Microsoft has scaled back its plans for Cortana, and it has now decided to kill the product altogether.
There are a few reasons why Microsoft decided to send Cortana to the e-graveyard. First, Cortana never really caught on with users. In 2019, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that Cortana would never be competitive with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, and he recast the technology as a backend service. And now we know he was right.
Second, Microsoft has been investing heavily in other AI-powered products, such as Windows Copilot and Bing Chat AI. These products are seen as being more promising than Cortana, and they are likely to be the focus of Microsoft’s AI efforts in the future.
Here is a short timeline of Cortana’s history:
- 2014: Cortana is released for Windows Phone.
- 2015: Cortana is released for Windows 10.
- 2016: Cortana is released for Android and iOS.
- 2019: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that Cortana will never be competitive with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.
- 2021: Microsoft discontinues Cortana for Android and iOS.
- 2023: Microsoft announces that it will be doing away with Cortana.
Cortana’s demise is a sign of the changing landscape of the voice assistant market. Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa are now the dominant players, and it is difficult for new entrants to break into the market. Microsoft is likely to focus its AI efforts on other products, as I mentioned previously.
Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa have a number of advantages over their competitors. These advantages include:
Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa are available on a wide range of devices, from smart speakers, to smartphones, to cars. This makes them more available to users than other voice assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, which is only available on Apple devices.
These two leaders are deeply integrated with other services, such as Google Search and Amazon Prime Music. This makes them more useful for users who want to control their smart home devices, get information, or listen to music.
Assistant and Alexa are constantly being improved with new features and functionalities. This keeps them ahead of the competition and ensures that they remain the most popular voice assistants.
Other players in the voice assistant market include; Apple’s Siri, Baidu DuerOS, Huawei’s Celia, Lenovo Smart Assistant, LG ThinQ , Samsung’s Bixby, Xiaomi XiaoAI and Yandex Alice. If you have only heard of a couple of these, do not worry, no one else has either. These voice assistants have some advantages over Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, such as better integration with their specific ecosystems. However, they have not been as successful in terms of market share.
The future of the voice assistant market is likely to be dominated by Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. These two companies have the resources and the commitment to continue improving their voice assistants, and they are already well-established in the market. However, other players are not giving up yet, and they could still make a significant impact in the future. Or even a new system we know nothing about right now could be the new winner.
