Skype Hammers Another Nail in Cortana’s Coffin (Premium)

Today, Amazon announced numerous new smart home products, among them a smart display that will include Skype video call support.

Oops.

Among the many products that Amazon announced today was a new version of its smart display, the Echo Show. This updated Echo Show provides a bigger, 10-inch HD display, an improved design with a nice fabric back, improved audio with premium speakers, a built-in smart home hub, and more.

Also among the new features is the ability to make video calls outside of the Alexa ecosystem; the previous Echo Show supports video calls to anyone with the Alexa app, an Echo Spot, or Echo Show. And the first partner coming on-board is Skype.

It looks like that partnership with Microsoft is paying off. For Amazon.

Looked at from the Microsoft side of this fence, this change marks an interesting point in Cortana's transition from mainstream concern to "yet another failed Microsoft consumer product." (It is perhaps not coincidental that the Harman Kardon Invoke, the only mainstream Cortana-powered smart speaker, is being fire-saled as I write this.)

Put another way, it is very likely that the Alexa ecosystem will play the same role for Microsoft-centric users in the home as Android does in mobile: A refuge for us to turn to in the wake of yet another Microsoft retreat. If you can't beat 'em, partner with 'em.

I believe that this was inevitable. Apprised of the Cortana/Alexa link-up last year, my first thought was that Cortana would die as one of a few thousand Alexa skills. And this development kind of drives home that point.

R.I.P., Cortana.

 

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