Microsoft has a new magic wand in its pocket, as its latest deal involves the acquisition of Wand Labs.
The terms of the deal remain undisclosed, but the acquisition holds great promise for the future of "conversational intelligence." Wand Labs specializes in messaging apps and chatbots, and it will be interesting to see how it will enhance Microsoft's vision.
Wand Labs proved to be a powerful tool in integrating various services such as Spotify, Yelp and many, many others, with chat capabilities for extra convenience and functionality. For instance, users can create playlists and check restaurant reviews more simply and easily via chat.
With Microsoft now taking Wand Labs under its wing, things are getting interesting. We could soon see more useful chat functionality integrated with Cortana, Skype, Bing and other Microsoft products, making it easier to communicate and get things done.
Betting big on conversational intelligence, Microsoft and Wand Labs aim to leverage machine intelligence with human language to allow for easier access to information, services and other users.
Chatbots are just gaining ground, and integrating Wand Labs technology might give Microsoft the edge it needs over the competition. Facebook already launched chatbots, but it still has quite a long way to go. Users reported that Facebook chatbots are buggy and unreliable, and their integration with third-party platforms is not functioning properly.
In May, Google also announced a new messaging app called Allo, aiming to challenge Facebook Messenger by integrating smarter artificial intelligence and machine learning. All in all, one thing is clear: messaging apps are evolving, becoming more advanced and diving deeper into artificial intelligence to improve their services.
With Wand Labs on its side, Microsoft now has a better chance to compete against Google, Facebook and others, integrating Wand's chat-based technology into Windows, Office 365 and the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.
Microsoft is already experimenting with chatbots, but integrating Wand will take things to the next level. If current Skype chatbots can search Bing, answer some questions and display photos from Getty Images, the new acquisition could result in a wider ecosystem of smarter chatbots that allow users to shop online, book trips and more.
Wand has the potential to deliver more refined, chattier bots, which in turn could translate to easier and more natural conversations and extra convenience in performing various tasks.
We're looking forward to seeing how Microsoft will craft its conversational intelligence assets, but the Wand Labs acquisition is definitely a major step in the right direction.
