Microsoft has already set loose Cortana, the software giant's voice assistant, for Android devices. But you won't be able to go far with it if you're planning to use it as a system-wide alternative. It's going to need a deeper integration with Android, after all. However, Cyanogen has plans to integrate Cortana deep within the next version of Cyanogen OS when it comes out year.
Cyanogen may not be too popular a name to recognize in the market, but the company has been the driving force behind the forked version of the widely known Android OS that has made its way with Samsung, LG, Sony and other leading consumer electronics manufacturers. However, if you recall the successful OnePlus One, it housed Cyanogen OS during the handset's first incarnation. Although the partnership has severed, leaving OnePlus to develop its own version of Android for their first phone's successor.
In an interview with International Business Times, Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster said that Cortana will be 'key' in building the next version of Cyanogen. According to McMaster, Cyanogen has been working with the Redmond-based company to deeply integrate the voice assistant into Cyanogen OS' upcoming version that is due next year and it will be the key to popularized Cyanogen in the mass market.
"Natural language coupled with intelligence is very important but as an application it doesn't rally work because you need to be embedded into the framework of the OS because that is where you get all the signal from the services that makes that intelligence smarter," McMaster said.
McMaster also said that Cortana is 'much better than Siri' because while Apple's voice assistant has integration with Apple Music, it can't power Spotify that way. But with Cortana integrated into the operating system, powering Spotify and other services would be possible.
