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Microsoft Windows 10 is bringing Cortana to Android and iOS devices

Joe Belfiore went on record in a video released earlier today stating that Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistant is coming to Android and iOS devices some time soon.

Thanks to Microsoft’s BUILD developer conferences and subsequent updates from the company’s official blog, we’ve seen the development of Windows 10 move from strength to strength; not just for the world of personal computing, but mobile too.

In a post Microsoft published earlier today we learnt that Cortana would finally be making its way beyond Windows phones and the upcoming Windows 10 desktop experience to iOS devices and Android handsets some time in the near future as well.

The company’s Joe Belfiore pulled the wraps off the new Windows 10 ‘Phone Companion’ application which will help new Windows 10 users tie their mobile device with the gamut of Microsoft services such as OneDrive, the Office applications suite and most excitingly, Cortana – the company’s digital voice assistant and Microsoft’s rival offer to Google Now and Apple’s Siri.

Belfiore stated, “Cortana can exist on whatever phone you have. We’re [also] going to enable all Windows 10 PC users to take the intelligence of that Cortana system with them onto, not just their Windows phone, but also an iPhone or an Android phone as an app that they can install on one of those devices.”

Once opened the Cortana app looks and feels like the experience we know from current Windows phones, with an animated spinning circle, voice feedback and Bing integration. The Windows Companion app currently built into Windows 10 states that the Cortana element of the mobile experience is still ‘coming soon’ but by releasing this video, Belfiore is no doubt signposting the service’s imminent arrival.

Whilst Siri is an iOS-only experience, the Google Search app has brought Google Now to iPhones, but this latest play from Microsoft will place its virtual assistant on the broadest number of platforms in one fell swoop.

No word on whether these mobile experience will play nice with the Apple Watch or Android Wear devices, but we’re hoping so.

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