Cortana for Windows Phone 8.1

Microsoft has announced that it finally has an answer to the challenge of breaking into the mobile phone market against devices with Siri and Google Now, and that answer is Cortana. Cortana is a personal assistant software for the newest update of the Windows Phone expected to be here in the next few months. As a general concept, it will be very similar to Apple's Siri. But before you write Cortana off as just another Siri mock-up, you might want to consider the advantages she has to offer.

1. Cortana is tied to Microsoft's search engine, Bing. Similar to Siri, you can search for results just by speaking to her. Cortana will remember what you have searched, however, and use this knowledge to customize results in future searches.

2. Cortana can also be used to set up reminders, convert figures, send messages, etc. We've seen this done before. But what Cortana can do that her competitors can't is work with third-party software for a great amount more functionality. This means that you can search restaurants on Yelp or look up a specific friend on Facebook. The possibilities are endless.

3. Finally, one of the coolest things about Cortana is her ability to remember things about you based on not only your searches, but your email, notes, and other applications as well. She uses this information to infer your schedule and likes to guess about what you might want to do. For example, if you set an appointment, she is able to tell you if there is a schedule conflict then. If you look up how many calories are in a cookie, she might infer from your calorie counting app that you ate a cookie and ask if you want to log it for the day. You can even set your phone to allow certain people to call at certain times without everyone being able to. Not to worry though, you can control how much information she has access to.

Cortana will make the Windows Phone greatly more appealing to those comparing mobile phone products. Her addition may be what it takes to let Windows Phone into the market earnestly. Currently she is being rolled out in Beta version, so she has a lot of catching up to do with Siri who has years of natural language information behind her. Only time will tell, but Cortana shows great promise for the future of the industry.