Windows Cortana Digital Assistant Heading to iOS and Android

Cortana-hero1-new-jpgWindows digital assistant Cortana will soon be available on both Android and iOS through standalone apps that are planned for launch after Windows 10 brings the feature to Microsofts desktop products.

According to Reuters, the expansion to iOS and Android is part of Microsofts larger plan for the digital assistant, which involves using research from an artificial intelligence project called Einstein.

The digital assistant has been running on Windows phones and tablets for around a year, and has received praise for its ease of use and the amount of information it is able to access.

“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,” said Eric Horvitz, managing director of Microsoft Research.

The introduction of Cortana to iOS and Android represents the latest attempt by Microsoft to tear down the walls it has built around its ecosystem and expand onto other devices. It recently released an SDK for third-party developers to build apps for its wearable devices, has opened up Microsoft Office to third-party cloud storage services, and released iOS and Android versions of its MSN apps.