Microsoft’s Cortana will be coming to Android later this year

It’s been a while since we last heard rumors of Microsoft’s Cortana coming to Android. Way back in June of 2014 a manager from the Windows Phone team talked about the possibility of Cortana coming to other platforms. Now we’re hearing from Microsoft’s Eric Horvitz, managing director of Microsoft Research, that they are planning a bigger roll-out for Cortana later this year.

Microsoft is currently planning to bring Cortana to the desktop in Windows 10, which could be the perfectly opportunity to launch on Android and iOS as well. You might be thinking “why would Microsoft bring one of the best features of Windows Phone to competing platforms?” The new Microsoft under CEO Satya Nadella is focused on getting more people using Microsoft services. Just look at all the apps they already have in the Play Store.

The big question for most Android users will be “why should I use Cortana?” Microsoft will have a tough job convincing users to switch away from the tightly integrated and powerful Google Now. When Cortana originally launched in beta 0n Windows Phone 8.1 we put it up against Google Now. A lot has changed since then, but it’s still a good look at the two services side-by-side.

Will you give Cortana a shot when it comes to Android?