Windows 10: Cortana product chief admits Microsoft was late to the speaker market

Digital assistants, in general, have changed a lot in the past few years. They have gained a lot of new features which made them capable of expanding themselves from smartphones to smart speakers. Amazon Alexa powered Echo smart speakers are really popular products in the market. Google Assistant powered smart speakers are also popular. Realizing that there is an actual market for smart speakers, Apple also launched their Home Pod powered by Apple’s Siri of course. Microsoft, on the other hand, didn’t make a smart speaker on their own and instead asked Harmon Kardon to make a smart speaker powered by Cortana and the Invoke was born. But it didn’t sell as they hoped it would. So Microsoft lost the game in the smart speaker segment.

Microsoft has admitted that they were late to the smart speaker market. In an interview with ZDNet, Javier Soltero who is the Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Cortana confessed that the smart speaker market grew into a form which Microsoft didn’t anticipate. “This new market around ambient devices in the home has been “shaped differently when we expected.” Microsoft realized the opportunities of this market “but didn’t jump quickly on.”

But all hope is not lost as Soltero also said that Microsoft has new and better plans for Cortana. Smart speakers with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and even Siri are meant to do a specific task. For example, turn on the lights or book a ride or anything like that. These speakers and digital assistants are already pretty good at this. Also, they are already popular among the people. So there is no need for Microsoft to come up with a Cortana powered smart speaker to take on the likes of Google Home or Amazon Echo or even Apple Home Pod. Instead, what Microsoft plans is to integrate Cortana into the operating system or applications so that we will be able to do our tasks faster and more efficiently.

People might always think of a digital assistant as an app or a voice from a speaker but in reality what they want or what they need is an actual help from the assistant. Simply put “assistance from the assistant”. This is exactly what Microsoft aims to do with Cortana. In the future of Windows 10 PCs, Microsoft will be weaving Cortana into the entire operating system.

This doesnt mean that Cortana will stop being the digital assistant that it is. The final thing that Microsoft wants is still to make Cortana a digital assistant too. Microsoft wants Cortana to be consistent and logical. But what people really need is the assistance that Cortana can offer and Microsoft believes that concentrating on one of these will eventually lead to the other.

This makes sense with the recently announced Cortana-Alexa integration. Microsoft might have been late to the smart speaker market but it doesn’t matter as long as Microsoft follows this new roadmap for Cortana. For doing specific tasks, the users can use Alexa. Microsoft is totally okay with it. Also, users can also have Cortana in Amazon Echo speakers if they still want to have a smart speaker with Cortana.

Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa already have a headstart so Microsoft has to act fast. Cortana should expand to more platforms and should have a better cross-platform service in order to provide the best experience for the users.

The post Cortana product chief admits Microsoft was late to the speaker market appeared first on Windows Latest

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Lack of Advertising/Marketing and repeated failure of Microsoft products

I have been a loyal customer and the "Microsoft guy" in my sphere of influence for nearly 25 years now. I am a subscriber (I actually pay for OneDrive, Xbox Gold, Outlook no ads, and Groove Music) and I feel stupid every day. I have Xbox One, Microsoft Band
2 (had the one), Surface Pro, Windows Media Center, Microsoft keyboards and mice, Microsoft Wireless Display Adapters, Windows 10 on the PC's at home and work....Cortana on wireless speakers/mic at my office and home (like Alexa), and WINDOWS PHONE. I had
Windows Mobile back in the day, and moved through each iteration version I could....to stay with Microsoft....until Windows Mobile 10 came out. And now they lose another product. Actually, they let it go. I amaze my friends and family and collegues all the
time with what I can do with my Microsoft/Windows ecosystem. But mostly they are amazed because then never knew the Microsoft products could do what I make them do. Why? Because there is never any advertising or marketing. The competitors come out with features
I have had for 2 years, but no one knew it. I am angry they are letting Windows Phone die. I have seen Microsoft Accounting die (which was way better than QuickBooks), Windows Live Writer discontinued, Microsoft Imaging, Office Binder, Zune software (not the
player), and so on go by the wayside for years because Microsoft refuses to market or advertise, as if word of mouth will sell the stuff. I am so angry I am tempted to completely swich everthing Microsoft in my life, to the next competitor and be in their
ecosystem.

Am I alone?

 

CORTANA SAYS NAME IS 'CHIEF' ITS WRONG I SET UP WINS10 WITH MY FULL NAME CANNOT FIND NOTEBOOK OR ABOUT ME AS TOLD TO DO?

I've tried this but always get the same "You are Chief" response when I ask Cortana "What is my name?".