As it rolled out beta versions of Cortana to the UK and China in the latest update for Windows 8.1, Microsoft also announced that it's planning to release an alpha version of the voice assistant software in three other countries.
Alpha versions of Cortana will be available to Windows Phone users in Australia, Canada and India in a few days time.
The alpha and beta releases of Cortana into markets outside of the U.S. came after a large number of users in other countries were said to have adjusted their phone's region settings to access the software outside of the States.
The beta version of Cortana has been designed for the languages and accents of each of the regions in which the software has been released, according to Joe Belfiore of Windows Phone's design and definition team.
"Of course fitting a local-market isn't specific to China," said Belfiore. "For the UK, Cortana has been tailored to support UK spellings and pronunciations and Bing-provided local data on sports teams (for the EPL), the London Stock Exchange, commuter conditions, and more. The voice and accent is, of course, local, and Cortana's personality in the UK has also been tweaked to be more locally relevant."
It was unclear how much support the alpha version of Cortana will offer to native English speakers in Oceana, as previous versions of the voice assistant software have had some struggles with Australian accents and terms. But with the mass release of alpha and beta versions of Cortana, Microsoft indicated that it was responding to demand for the software and wasn't merely "throwing stuff over the wall."
The expansion of Cortana's reach wasn't the only bit of news surrounding the latest update of Windows Phone 8.1. As Microsoft's voice assistant software fights to gain ground on Apple's Siri, the U.S. version of Cortana also received a few patches and upgrades in the latest update.
The U.S. version of Cortana received additional language scenarios, snooze settings for reminders and enhancements to the voice assistant's personality, according to Belfiore. The ability to do impersonations was one of the personality upgrades Cortana received, Belfiore said.
"We've also added the ability to invoke Cortana hands-free in your car for phones connected to car Bluetooth kits that are integrated with your contacts list," said Belfiore. "If your car kit is integrated with your contacts, you can now treat Cortana as a contact to invoke her, simply saying 'Call Cortana' and then talking to her as you normally would."
Elsewhere in the Windows Phone 8.1 update, Microsoft has enabled the manipulation of the Live folder on the platform's Start screen. Xbox Music, Store Live Tiles, SMS merging, SMS forwarding and the Apps Corner all received enhancements.
