Given Microsoft"s cross-platform approach to software development these days, it wasn"t a great surprise when it confirmed a few weeks ago that its Cortana digital assistant would be made available on Android and iOS this year, as a "companion app" to Windows 10. However, it appears that the company has since adjusted its plans to roll out Cortana on other platforms.
When it made its announcement on May 26, Microsoft said:
The Cortana companion will be available for Android phones at the end of June and for iPhones later this year.
However, in its announcement yesterday that Cortana is heading to the Xbox One, Microsoft briefly referred to its Android plans again - but that planned launch date seems to have slipped:
Starting in July, the beta of the Cortana app for Android Phones will be available to test as a companion to Windows 10 PCs.
It is not clear what has caused Microsoft to push back the launch of the Cortana app on Android from June to July, but it seems a safe bet that the company wanted to give itself a bit more time to fix bugs and make final improvements to the app before releasing its first public beta.
Microsoft also rolled out some significant improvements to Cortana this week in its latest Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview.