Alexa allies with Cortana to take on Assistant, Siri

Windows 10 users will be the first to able to access Alexa via Windows 10, followed by apps for Android and iOS at somepoint in the near “future”. I don’t know. order some detergent without just navigating to Amazon.com like a normal person, you’ll say, “Hey Cortana, open Alexa”, and order as you would on an Alexa-enabled device.

A partnership that links the companies’ digital assistants is not only a sign of the maturing relationship between the two, but it also is expected to help both expand their audiences and fend off other rivals in the competition to build voice-activated software.

United Airlines has partnered with Amazon to become the first US airline to offer an Alexa skill for customers to check-in for flights, check flight status, view in flight amenities and more. This will enable users with any Alexa-enabled device to connect their Sonos, Bose, Sound United, and Samsung speakers and use voice control to play music. Similarly, Cortana customers can ask Alexa to control their smart home devices, shop on Amazon.com, interact with numerous more than 20,000 skills built by third-party developers, and much more. Like the Amazon Echo, press the mute button on the side to prevent its microphones from listening. Windows users utilizing the Cortana tool need only say “Cortana, open Alexa” and Alexa will be ready for use.

What is interesting to see here is that both the voice assistants work differently. The rise of the voice assistant represents a whole new platform; a change in the status quo that both Microsoft and Amazon are hoping to exploit.

Amazon and MSFT are keeping their respective virtual assistants independent.

Premium home-speaker company Sonos has scheduled a media event for October 4 in New York City, where it is expected to introduce its first speaker with integrated voice controls. Microsoft Corporation has figured that the king of the voice assistants is the company which gets its product into the most homes.

The heads of the two tech giants have been in talks to make the two systems play nice with each other for over a year now, according to a report by The New York Times. Now if only they could get a digital assistant that works great on the phone to work with their computer and smart speaker AIs.

And while Siri may be lonely in the closed Apple community, Loup Ventures Managing Partner Gene Munster thinks she’ll ultimately become the long-term market leader of digital assistants.

Mr Bezos said: “The world is big and so multifaceted”. On the other hand, the Echo speakers will bring Cortana to Alexa’s home.

That makes the automatic voice assistant aggregation envisioned by Bezos the sanest way to deal with the explosion of intelligence in the living room and office.

“That’s why the devices have to appeal to as wide a range of consumers as possible with their feature sets and price points”, ABI’s Collins said.