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Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

blogs.wsj.com

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Re: Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

#61

Post by robmcm »

erickhill wrote: post #23
yellowapple wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did, once upon a time; IE was available for Mac OS (pre-X, IIRC) and Unix back in the 90's. Bringing back cross-platform IE is probably a lost cause nowadays, but a cross-platform Spartan is possible.

IE 5.5 on OS 9 was, at the time, the best browser available for the platform. Literally every fruity iMac had it and used it by default that I ever encountered. Including my own.

It was the best browser on any platform at the time, and paved the way for strong web standards support.

People often forget about this when bashing IE.

Re: Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

#62

Post by KJasper »

nivla wrote: post #8
macspoofing wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Realistically Microsoft could strike a deal and make an Android phone use Cortana by default Zero chance for Google doing it but maybe one of manufacturers or Cyanogen?

Ha extremely true. There is absolutely no way Google is going to let Microsoft peddle on their turf. They have been not so subtle about wanting to avoid windows phones for their core products and even to some extend actively sabotaging (remember that whole fiasco with Google blocking maps for Windows phone users?). This makes me wonder if investing in Cyanogen was a wise strategy for Microsoft? This way they could ge…

Don't forget about the YouTube fiasco where Google forced Microsoft to withdraw their unofficial app even though they tried everything to comply with Google.

Re: Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

#63

Post by castell »

0xFFC wrote: post #52
frik wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero chance for Samsung, the have their own personal assistant since Galaxy S2. (both Apple's Siri and Samsung one are now based on Nuance technology)

Could you explain about Nuance technology ?

Wikipedia has an article about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_Voice

Re: Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

#64

Post by castell »

jfuhrman wrote: post #34

Earlier discussion of the actual source here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9606188 Looks like it was quickly knocked off the front page by the flamebait detector thanks to the offtopic toxic comments accusing MS employees of voting up the the post. http://hnrankings.info/9606188/

During the Microsoft Build event a lot of Microsoft employees registered new HN account (shown as green) and up-voted MS related headlines in the following days. Not that I'm complaining but it looked more like a coordinated effort. HN certainly relies on some automatic voting ring detection.

Re: Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

#65

Post by pjc50 »

julianz wrote: post #31
hbharadwaj wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can just set your location as US. That would make it work. (Not ideal)

Thanks - I did try that but I haven't been able to come up with any combination of location and regional settings that works on this phone. Even setting it to US everything doesn't work.

Have you got high precision location tracking on? For some reason this needs to be on all the time in order for you to have Cortana.

Re: Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

#66

Post by baldfat »

blumkvist wrote: post #60
frik wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero chance for Samsung, the have their own personal assistant since Galaxy S2. (both Apple's Siri and Samsung one are now based on Nuance technology)

Zero chance? Yeah... no. Many people would be very surprised how quickly manufacturers start to ditch google once windows10 gets out.

The issue in tech has never been who has the best tech wins. Over and over it isn't about technology or better this or that. It is based on mindshare of developers, the market position of the product and public demand for the item.

Window Phones are good tech. The phones are designed very well. The OS is fluid and it does things well. I just can't ever see it breaking into double digits of market share in the next 5 years due to public demand for Windows items and the lack of mind share. Maybe in 5+ years. I think MS has a better chance of just doing a Amazon and fork Android.

Re: Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

#67

Post by vetinari »

blumkvist wrote: post #60
frik wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero chance for Samsung, the have their own personal assistant since Galaxy S2. (both Apple's Siri and Samsung one are now based on Nuance technology)

Zero chance? Yeah... no. Many people would be very surprised how quickly manufacturers start to ditch google once windows10 gets out.

We are hearing that tune since WP7.

Re: Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

#69

Post by CaptainZapp »

baldfat wrote: post #66
blumkvist wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero chance? Yeah... no. Many people would be very surprised how quickly manufacturers start to ditch google once windows10 gets out.

The issue in tech has never been who has the best tech wins. Over and over it isn't about technology or better this or that. It is based on mindshare of developers, the market position of the product and public demand for the item. Window Phones are good tech. The phones are designed very well. The OS is fluid and it does things well. I just can't ever see it breaking into double digits of market share in the next 5…

  Maybe in 5+ years. I think MS has a better chance of just doing a Amazon and fork Android.
I really, really hope they don't do that and stay focused on Windows.

I would never, ever have thought that I'd say that, but since using a Lumia 1020 I have to grant that Microsoft created a damn good, flexible and extremely usable OS for mobile devices.

Remembering that atrocity that was Windows CE I never would have thought this possible and I really intend to stick with the platform. Despite the fact that software selection is somewhat limited compared to Android and iOS (which, practically speaking, is not really that consequential).

Re: Microsoft’s Cortana Headed to iPhone and Android Phones

#70

Post by blumkvist »

baldfat wrote: post #66
blumkvist wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero chance? Yeah... no. Many people would be very surprised how quickly manufacturers start to ditch google once windows10 gets out.

The issue in tech has never been who has the best tech wins. Over and over it isn't about technology or better this or that. It is based on mindshare of developers, the market position of the product and public demand for the item. Window Phones are good tech. The phones are designed very well. The OS is fluid and it does things well. I just can't ever see it breaking into double digits of market share in the next 5…

>It is based on mindshare of developers, the market position of the product and public demand for the item.

No, no, no. This war is won by distribution. Your mom doesn't go to the store to buy an android phone. She goes to buy a phone. Which phone? The one that the friendly employee at the store proposes. Which one is that? The one that the store manager tells the employee to push. Which phone is that? The one that corporate headquarters tells stores to push. Which phone is that? The ones with lucrative kickback schemes. Which phones are that? The ones that manufacturers decide.

Which phones will they decide on? The phones in partnerships with the company that changes their agreements and APIs every quarter? Maybe they will chose the company that they have a very profitable partnership going on for 3 decades. The company that has the power to waive a magic stick and turn them from unprofitable/breakeven to well into the green. Comapnies pay a lot of money to MSFT every year on patents. Samsung paid $1bn last year alone. Every manufacturer is losing money on smart phones because of that. Guess what? If you push our phone, we can share those patents with you. Oh, btw, we can subsidize those windows phones, give you some cash advance on the OS you sell for us just to stitch things up for the next few quarters.

Microsoft is all about business. Big business. Big partnerships. They suffocate competition in a very deliberate manner. Google hasn't competed ever with anyone. Moreover, Erick Smidt tanked Novel back in the day because of poor relationships with their partners.

On top of that, the OS will be good. Nobody will complain. Lots of phones will be sold in the lower end market. Some corporate deals will be done for the mid and high end markets and the ball will get rolling. Developers will be happy too. MSFT is making big progress in that lately. You also get the added bonus of developing for the windows PC and tablet platforms, in addition to the phone platform. Everyone will make lots of money. Except google.

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