The Next Big Thing: Microsoft 's Cortana vs Apple's and Samsung's Move on Health

[Jason Ward]

CORTANA- 2014 The Next Big Thing
Microsoft's Cortana vs Apple's and Samsung's Move on Health


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Are HEALTH and WELLNESS devices the "Next Big Thing" this year or can MICROSOFT's CORTANA rule the mobile roost?!? I think that Microsoft has a chance to control the message around the AI Digital Assistant this year. Both Apple and Samsung are going all in with what they are trying to define as the "Next Big Thing" in MOBILE HEALTH and WELLNESS, while not focusing a great deal of attention on the Digital Assistants they have developed. Microsoft's CORTANA promises advances beyond both Siri and Google Now. If it is indeed the REVOLUTIONARY product Ballmer promised I think Microsoft has a real shot of ruling the mobile dialogue in 2014! If not they may miss the boat on the next big thing, "Mobile Health and Wellness", since they have no horse in that race. They need to usurp this years mobile message with Cortana or they may be left behind.

Why Cortana Must Be Revolutionary - A Cautionary Tale - "Recess is Over"

Why Windows Phone 8.1, Particularly Cortana, Must Be Revolutionary- “A Cautionary Tale” | Tech Word - Wards Word on Tech
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What Do You Guys Think?

• Does Cortana have to be a Game Changer?
  
• Is providing a " good enough" digital assistant enough for Microsoft to continue it's upward trajectory in the face of Apples and Samsung's health focused devices and paraphernalia that are being released this year?
  
• Is 2014 the year of "The Next Big Thing" - Health and Wellness Tech? Is Microsoft missing the boat yet again?

Sound off below!

 

[Ankit Nawlakha]

#revolutionaryupdate it is..!!
And about cortana.. it wont be appropriate to say anything about her untill she is offcially announced..!! V

 

[Jason Ward]

This was a great link explaining what Microsoft could do with Cortana on PCWORLD last year. How Microsoft could beat Siri and Google Now: A modern Microsoft Bob | PCWorld

 

[RustyU]

Another voice assistant certainly won't be the next big thing. Big two years ago maybe, but not now. People are used to them and will be expecting something new; health & wellness could well be that thing.

 

[fdruid]

Personally I don't think that health apps and fitness trackers are something *everybody* will use, for one I don't care about those. Cortana is a deeper change because it's about integration of the user experience, and that IS important for everybody. Google did it very well with the Google Now thing, Siri IMHO is a gimmick (I've seen my GF play with it, she never uses it for real situations).

The specs race is more or less over. Now it's about bringing a better user experience, not about gimmicks and add-ons. WP stands a good chance of suceeding by refining its user experience, which as it is, is very solid. Implemented right, Cortana will be a big thing, because it has the power of Bing behind it. If not, it will just be another Siri.

 

[d_abbatelli]

Implemented right, Cortana will be a big thing, because it has the power of Bing behind it. If not, it will just be another Siri.

... and this is the reason while I personally don't believe Cortana will go anywhere.

Bing pretty much sucks outside US. Basically, almost every service is worse than the respective Google counterpart. Right now, If I use the bing powered "scout" function on my telephone it find absolutely nothing.
Concurrently, if I try to use the voice recognition to call someone, 9 out of 10 times it can't find the right contact (non-english names).

How exacly are these two fails supposed to combine into "the next big thing" starting next month?
To me, they just don't.

 

[tgp]

Personally I don't think that health apps and fitness trackers are something *everybody* will use, for one I don't care about those. Cortana is a deeper change because it's about integration of the user experience, and that IS important for everybody. Google did it very well with the Google Now thing, Siri IMHO is a gimmick (I've seen my GF play with it, she never uses it for real situations).

It appears that Cortana will be more like Google Now than Siri. Siri is basically just a voice assistant. Granted, I don't have much experience with it. I had an iPhone 5 for a couple months. That's the extent of my experience.

I use Google Now all the time, but very seldom the voice assistant. I use the AI part of it. This would make Siri virtually useless to me.

I do find it a bit ironic that Cortana will be using information from emails, which is exactly what the Scroogled campaign is all about! Not that I have a problem with it; it's necessary to make it work well. And yes, I know you have to opt in, but Google Now is the same way. It's turned off by default. You have to consciously activate it and agree to the T&C. Maybe it's like South Park's "Human CentiPad", I don't know!

 

[LSDigital]

I don't think Cortana will be anything but evolutionary. I can't see how can a circle be revolutionary when MS have a lot more to offer:

BBC News - Artificial intelligence: How to turn Siri into Samantha

All I ask is to use some pretty face instead...

 

[RadioActive199]

I haven't had the time to read the whole thread here, but I have been a windows phone user since a year and half and here are my thoughts:

I have been a Apple fan since the beginning, I still am (don't start hating, read on). I am a developer for both Android and iOS, Imma a huge mobile - geek. Which means, I follow all the kinds of news, updates and stuff like that. I am also into Jailbreaking, rooting etc (not for illegal purposes but for the tweaks).

As I said, I have been a windows phone user for a year and a half now, and the only reason I bought a Lumia 720 was because well, it was in my budget and I didn't have a windows phone device in. With a windows phone device, I now have 3 iOS devices, 4 Android and 1 Windows Phone.

I was impressed by MS's new creative OS, and i really feel for the animations But I really love the OS and would give up all my android devices for a really nice windows phone. With the 8.1 update, I really think MS is heading in the right direction and I was really impressed with the new updates they have introduced. I really can't wait to get my hands on the dev preview. From what I hear, and I am still confused about this, is that I won't be able to Cortana because I live in India? Seems really disappointing if that's the case. But nevertheless, I'm sure with Satya Nadella now heading MS, WP will be able to take on Apple and Android by the time 8.3 or so hits the shelfs.

The only thing MS needs to take care of this to keep supporting older devices and to push out updates ASAP. I thing I really love about apple is that their updates don't have to go through the painful OEM process. Which means people get the update as soon as they are released.

So to keep in short and conclude in a short summary, MS needs to keep a eye on the clock and push the updates ASAP, new features (unique ones) need to be introduced and some features I really want from Cortana are: Always listening feature (i know it hogs memory but it really makes a difference), a better UI (I really liked how MS used cortana on their presentation screen, nice and simple).