The Future Of Cortana Is Cloudy

Microsoft’s digital assistant is everywhere and yet, seemingly nowhere at the same time. Cortana, which is available on all major platforms has big ambitions but its future is a bit uncertain as Microsoft is either purposely limiting its potential or moving too slowly in the consumer space.

If you own an iPhone or Android device, you can access to Cortana and if you are running Windows 10, it comes with the OS too. Microsoft has also included the assistant with Xbox One and of course it is on Windows 10 Mobile as well but here’s the problem, it doesn’t have any meaningful endpoints.

And by meaningful end points, I mean high capacity user interactions that use voice as the primary means of input; it’s important to make this distinction. For example, on the desktop, voice interaction with the PC and Cortana is minimal. Technically, using search by hitting the Windows and typing a query is an interaction with Cortana, but let’s face it, this is a search and prior version of Windows had a similar feature, so calling this ‘using Cortana’ is a bit of a fallacy.

The desktop is likely the largest install-base of Cortana with over 400 million active installations of the platform but as noted previously, most users don’t talk to their PC; we grew up using mouse and keyboard and changing our input habits is a difficult task. When I asked users on Twitter, who are likely more engaged with Windows 10 than the typical consumer, the response was low voice utilization with Cortana on the desktop.

Microsoft has found use-cases for Cortana, like with Edge, but the fact remains, these are background tasks and not direct interaction with the user. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but at the same time, it’s not the same as talking to Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant. Users are not interacting with Cortana with their voice, it’s a background task running and while it does help, it’s a passive way of interacting instead of an active method.

Both Google and Amazon have taken steps to bring their AI personalities directly to the consumer with Home and Echo. While Home is still new, and personally I don’t like the fact you say “Ok Google” as if you are offering praise to the Google gods for using the service, Alexa has been immensely popular with consumers.

Apple has yet to show off a headless kitchen PC like an Echo but Siri is baked into every iPhone and with millions sold each month, it has a meaningful connection to the consumer; holding the Home button down for a few seconds on an iPhone launches Siri. This meaningful end-point for Apple is what allowed Siri to be a household name; the company has also recently released Siri for the desktop too, although it’s level of interaction on that platform is not currently known.

Apple has the iPhone, Google has Home and Android devices, Amazon has its Echo but Microsoft lacks a meaningful endpoint where Cortana is used like a true AI assistant. Even though the company has put the service everywhere, it’s utilization rate, like that of Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant, is far lower.

This is not because Cortana lacks features or is inferior, it’s because of where we use these types of devices is not conducive to where Cortana is available. On Android, you can switch to use Cortana instead of Google Now/Assistant but that’s not by default and you have to download the app first. On iOS, it’s not possible to replace Siri which means you must always use the app which is less convenient than holding down the Home button. And while Cortana is on Windows Phone as the default AI assistant, the market share of that platform is around 1%. The PC is a broad end-point for interaction, but the interactions are not the same as on a phone or kitchen PC.

Seeing as Microsoft has not announced a kitchen PC, I do worry about the future of Cortana. Without a meaningful endpoint, the AI assistant lives, but mostly in a forgotten location. Sure, you can get Cortana everywhere, but that’s only if you are willing to side-step the default AI assistant on the popular mobile platforms and on the PC, you have to convince users to talk to their PC instead of using a mouse and keyboard like we have done for the past three decades.

It’s also worth mentioning that Microsoft has limited Cortana’s potential too; heavily restricting features for those who live outside of US. So, even if you want to use Cortana but live outside the US, its features will feel limited in comparison to other AI personas.

Microsoft’s best bet at making Cortana relevant with the consumer is to release a headless PC like an Echo or Home. But, as usual with the company, they are either very early (tablet PCs) and release a product before the market is ready or they are too late to the party (Windows phone) and miss the opportunity.

Cortana is a robust platform and while Microsoft has tried to make it the go-to assistant for everyone, it has seemingly come up short as the market has made the tool a second class citizen on other devices. If Microsoft is serious about keeping Cortana in the forefront of the minds of consumers, they need to either go all-in and make a stand-alone Cortana cube (Amazon Echo/Google Home competitor) or be content with the fact that Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant will be eating their lunch.