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Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant, may be coming to yet another mobile operating system, according to Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster. In an interview with the International Business Times, he announced that his company is working to integrate Cortana into the next version of its mobile operating system.

Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster. Photo via Cyanogen.
Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster. Photo via Cyanogen.

“Natural language coupled with intelligence is very important but as an application it doesn’t [really] work because you need to be embedded into the framework of the OS,” McMaster said in the interview.

Cyanogen is working with Microsoft to incorporate the intelligent virtual assistant into the the Android-based operating system. While Cyanogen OS is built on Android, it isn’t built by Google. Instead, it is maintained by Cyanogen Inc. and is layered with custom and third-party code for added benefits over the carrier- or manufacturer-installed versions of Android found on many phones.

Microsoft and Cyanogen have been working together since April on integrating the Redmond-based software giant’s apps and services into Cyanogen’s operating system. At the time that partnership was announced, Cyanogen said productivity, messaging, utilities, and cloud-based services would be incorporated into future releases of the mod.

Adding Cortana would be a major step for Cyanogen as it tries to break into the duopoly created by Google and Apple for the smartphone market. While Microsoft has tried to get in on the mobile OS game for years, it hasn’t seen much success. But by piggybacking on the open-source community that developed CyanogenMod, it may be able to join the party.

In fact, this isn’t the first non-Windows Phone smartphone that Cortana will run on. Android users can already use Cortana via its own app, and Cortana is a large part of the upgraded Windows 10 experience for desktop users.

 

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