We all know very well that all the major technology companies are investing in their own virtual personal assistants simply to make them more advanced and efficient. But, what if they joined forces? Yes, that’s what the tech giant Microsoft and the giant e-commerce Amazon are doing to take on Google.
Amazon Alexa & Microsoft Cortana Team Up To Take On Google
All major technology companies are investing in their own personal assistants. What if they joined forces? That’s what the tech giant Microsoft and the giant e-commerce Amazon are doing.
By the end of the year, Cortana the virtual personal assistant of Microsoft will be able to interact with Alexa the virtual personal assistant of Amazon on supported devices, including Amazon Echo and Windows 10 computers.
This means that Cortana will have access to the unique features of Alexa and Alexa will have access to the unique features of Cortana. The giant e-commerce Amazon says that Alexa will be able to read all your work emails in Office 365, access your calendar or make an appointment, for example.
In turn, Cortana the virtual personal assistant of Microsoft will gain integration with intelligent devices and more than 20 thousand tasks developed by third parties, and, of course, to be able to shop at Amazon as well.
It will not be such a seamless integration: according to the New York Times, you will have to first speak “Alexa, open Cortana” on the Amazon Echo speaker and “Cortana, open Alexa” on Windows 10 devices, give the desired voice command.
Both companies should win with the partnership. On the Amazon side, Jeff Bezos says that Cortana has superior integration with Office since the two products are from the same company. And, as The Verge recalls, the tech giant Microsoft is still just beginning to convince developers to integrate their products with Cortana – while Alexa is already far more advanced in that.
Conversations between Amazon and Microsoft to unite their personal assistants began in May 2016, following a meeting between Jeff Bezos and Satya Nadella. Could we in the future see a union between the other technology giants, including the tech giant Apple and the tech giant Google? We can not predict the future, but Jeff Bezos says that he would support the partnership.
So, what do you think about this partnership between the tech giant Microsoft and the giant e-commerce Amazon? Simply share your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
