14 DAY TRIAL // There is no doubt that Cortana has opened a completely new world of opportunities for developers and companies across the globe, and although Microsoft's digital assistant hasn't yet reached the market in stable form, it's already leading to pretty amazing innovations.
Home automation company Insteon today announced that its mobile apps would include support for Cortana, which pretty much means that everyone could simply turn off the lights or control their home electronics by simply speaking to their phones.
This is clearly a pretty important step not only for users, but also for Microsoft itself, as the company has much more ambitious plans to bring Cortana on some other operating systems versions, including the desktop and the tablet-oriented RT.
Ever since the first rumors of Cortana for Windows reached the web, we've heard users claiming that it would be quite uncanny to talk to a PC or tablet to perform specific tasks, but today's announcement clearly shows why such a technology actually makes sense.
Cortana for Windows could be launched in Windows 9 and according to people familiar with the matter, it would be fully integrated into both the desktop and the tablet builds.
Microsoft obviously hopes that more software companies would follow Insteon's example and launch Cortana integration in many more apps, which would obviously boost the adoption of the new digital assistant.
Microsoft has already offered hints that Cortana is coming to Windows and Windows RT, but nothing has been confirmed so far, but people close to the matter indicated with several occasions that at least a preview version of the service could be implemented not only in Windows 9, but also in a beta build of the operating system.
There's no doubt that Insteon's collaboration with Microsoft, which makes home automation a thing to be desired by each and every one of us owning a Windows Phone, could be a win-win situation, so do not be too surprised if Redmond itself is trying to capitalize on this partnership in the coming months.
An application that would allow Windows Phone users make the most of Insteon's Cortana integration is expected to be released very soon. It appears, however, that everything would be amazingly easy, so you would only have to say “Insteon” to be provided with a list of commands that would allow you to control home electronics. Further tweaks are obviously expected too.