The feature should become official later today, alongside the new OS version

Apr 2, 2014 09:48 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has been long rumored to be preparing a personal assistant for its Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, namely Cortana, and more information on the matter has emerged now.

The guys over at nokiapoweruser have discovered reference to the feature in the Bing personalization page, which clearly shows that Cortana could become official later today, at the BUILD 2014 conference in San Francisco.

Previous reports on the functionality have suggested that Microsoft will build the personal assistant with deep Bing integration, and the aforementioned settings page appears to confirm that.

Those of you who have a Bing account can head over to the settings page on the service, and will find Cortana mentioned in the Personalization tab (it is not available in all markets out there).

What Microsoft notes there is that the personal assistant will be able to deliver a personalized experience as long as users are connected with a Microsoft account.

“When you're signed into your Microsoft account, Microsoft services like Cortana, Bing Apps, and Bing services personalize your experience,” the company explains there.

Said page also provides users with the option to clear all data that gathered on their search and navigation habits, but that will impact their overall experience with Microsoft’s services.

“To provide personalized recommendations, we upload some info from your Windows Phone, such as your calendar, contacts, location, and browsing history. If you clear this info, Microsoft may be temporarily unable to provide these recommendations,” the company notes.

Those who hit the clear button available on said page will see all of their “saved favorites and interests in Cortana and related Bing apps and services” wiped out, Microsoft explains.

None of these comes as a surprise, given that the Windows Phone 8.1 personal assistant has been rumored to be contextual aware, drawing info from location, web, favorites and the like so as to provide users with the best possible experience.

However, chances are that we’ll see Cortana being connected to the desktop in one way or the other, which should provide it with the possibility to learn more on users, faster.

Given the tight connection between Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, and Microsoft’s plans to blur the lines between them even more, we might see some sort of a personal assistant being delivered to Windows tablets as well.

Of course, this is only a supposition for the time being, and you should take it as such. Cortana appears confirmed only for Windows Phone for now, though it remains to be seen what exactly Microsoft will announce on it later today.