Alexa, Cortana still can’t talk to each other

Amazon and Microsoft earlier in 2017 had announced their collaboration with the main objective of enabling their respective digital assistants towards working with each other. At that time, they informed the users that Alexa and Cortana would be able to communicate with each towards the end of 2017. However, that has still not taken place as yet.

According to a report published by Engadget, the companies were expected to ink their voice assistant crossover towards the end of 2017. A new year has already begun and it doesn’t appear like this is taking place. There is no reason as to why this hasn’t taken place as yet. The reasons for this collaboration not working out are still uncertain.

Both the companies, i.e. Amazon and Microsoft, keep saying that their fans can expect more “soon.” This has led many to believe that they might unveil a possible collaboration between their voice assistants at the upcoming CES or MWC events. If the team-up ends up working out, the companies will be able to deliver on their promise of simplifying voice controls in homes. Smart homeowners will be able to issue commands to the Echo speaker through Cortana’s access that may exist on their laptops or Windows-oriented electronic gadgets.

At the same time, Cortana would provide them access to multiple skills provided by Alexa. You no longer have to worry about sticking to one set of products in order to gain a seamless experience.

The report by Engadget calls this a “defensive measure.” The companies don’t want to worry about competing with each other and thus, are working out a collaboration. If this ends up working out then Google will be the only direct threat to both the companies. “Google allows Assistant on third-party hardware, but the two (Microsoft, Amazon) have to consider Apple as well,” the report by Engadget reads.