Last month, Microsoft announced that it is all set to pull the plug on its Cortana mobile application for both Android and iOS devices in several countries next year. The company confirmed that from January 31, 2020, Microsoft will no longer support the digital assistant app in some of the regions.
At that time, it was revealed that the Cortana mobile app will no longer support UK, Canada, Australia, China, Germany, India, Mexico and Spain. Now, in a recent interview, Andrew Shuman, who is leading the Cortana team, confirmed that the Cortana mobile app (as well as its integration in Microsoft’s Android launcher) was going away in all countries except for the U.S.
Explaining why the app will still be functional in the United Sates, he said that it is used to configure Cortana and update the firmware on Surface Headphones, which debuted only in the United States.
This doesn’t make sense as the headphones are now on sale in other regions as well. After January 30, only Surface Headphones users in the U.S. will be able to keep using Cortana for Android and iOS. All other Surface Headphones owners will now have to use Cortana for Windows.
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However, he did gave two more reasons for killing the app. First, Cortana for Android and iOS didn’t receive much traction outside the U.S. He said that “the markets we turned off had much lower usage and engagement.” The second reason is that Cortana for Android and iOS is sticking around in the U.S. because Microsoft wants to keep experimenting.
With the application for smartphones going away in almost all regions, the company previously said that “to make Cortana as helpful as possible, we’re integrating Cortana deeper into your Microsoft 365 productivity apps, and part of this evolution involves ending support for the Cortana mobile app on Android and iOS.” This confirms that Microsoft is refocusing Cortana for the enterprise, and specifically for Windows and Office.
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