14 DAY TRIAL // We already knew that Cortana, Microsoft's very own personal assistant that was introduced on Windows Phone 8.1 back in early April, is coming to Windows, but the company has only now officially confirmed such plans.
Marcus Ash, Group program manager working on the Cortana project on Windows Phone, revealed in a series of tweets during the weekend that Microsoft would indeed develop a desktop version of the application, but only after the company completes work on the Windows Phone build.
Basically, Ash explained, Microsoft wants to provide a fully-featured experience on Windows Phone and this is clearly the top priority for the company right now.
Once this goal is achieved, the software giant can start focusing on some other projects, such as bringing Cortana on some other platforms, including Windows 8.1, or in case development takes a little bit longer, Windows 9. The next full version of Windows is expected to launch in early 2015, so if work on Cortana for the desktop takes a little bit longer, it might be integrated from the get-go in Windows 9.
Ash also hinted that Cortana might at some point launched on other platforms as well, but explained that no matter what happened, Microsoft's personal assistant would provide the best experience on Windows devices. This way, the company is trying to make sure that Windows users are benefiting from a truly unique experience offered by Cortana, while the options available on non-Windows platforms might be more or less limited.
4. After we execute on #1 - #3, we have started to THINK about #Cortana on #Windows so more #Microsoft customers experience her.
— Marcus Ash (@marcusash) June 14, 2014 5. In a future state, the best experience will still be for #Microsoft customers that own all #Windows devices. Best work is on our devices.
— Marcus Ash (@marcusash) June 14, 2014
Here are all tweets posted by Ash during the weekend, but for Windows users numbers 4 and 5 are the one that are the most important:
1. Our top priority is to make Cortana great for #WindowsPhone customers. Get her out to more countries, continuing to push innovation. 2. Real plan is about #Cortana on #WindowsPhone. Make it so good that #WindowsPhone customers get everyone they know on #WindowsPhone. 3. Showcase experience will always be on #WindowsPhone. No controversy or debate. 4. After we execute on #1 – #3, we have started to THINK about #Cortana on #Windows so more #Microsoft customers experience her. 5. In a future state, the best experience will still be for #Microsoft customers that own all #Windows devices. Best work is on our devices. 6. Only after we execute on #1 – #5 do we consider #Cortana anywhere other than Windows devices which are only thoughts/questions, no plans. 7. Being a challenger in mobile requires us to consider ideas to breakthrough, including leveraging the broadest set of #Windows customers 8. These are future questions/thoughts, the present reality is making #Cortana #WindowsPhone amazing for our current and new customers. 9. Words are nice, only actions matter. Next 4 months of #Cortana on #WindowsPhone will show that we are dead serious about #1 – #3.