Ok Google. What is Cortana?

Opinion about Microsoft's Cortana and how Google Now and Apple react.

The fighting has heated up now that there is a new competitor in the ring. We started with a solo champion known as Siri, from Apple. Shortly, after Siri, Google announced and launched Google Now. The two personal assistant apps competed head to head and tried to innovate and add new features upon each new release. Now, there is a new challenger that will be competing directly with Google Now and Apple's Siri and it's name is Cortana. The battle for the personal assistant on your phone gets more interesting with the announcement of Microsoft's Cortana.

Cortana is similar to Siri and Google Now in a lot of ways but it also tries to differentiate itself, with new features and a clean user interface. You are able to use Cortana just as you would with Google and Apple's options, you can speak or type what you want to do. Cortana offers conversational searching just as in Google Now. You are also able to have Cortana give you reminders about what to speak with someone about, so when you call them you get the reminder. With the new service of Cortana we should see the innovation start to fire back up again with a solid competitor like Microsoft.

The most exciting part of Cortana is not Cortana itself but what it's affect will be on the industry. When Apple released Siri, it was all the rage and everyone wanted to use it. Then Google Now showed up and changed how we thought about, how and what information would be given to us, even before we knew we needed it. Now with Cortana I am excited to see if companies react to this and start to drive new features and experiences related to the personal assistant apps that are in just about everyone's phone.