Back in August, Amazon and Microsoft promised an integration between Alexa and Cortana sometime in 2017.
Fast-forward to 2018, the two smart assistants still aren't playing nice with each other yet, or in other words, the two companies missed their deadline.
Alexa Can't Open Cortana And Vice Versa Yet
As first spotted by Thurrott, both Amazon and Microsoft still haven't announced any updates regarding the Alexa and Cortana integration.
That's despite the commitment the two CEOs — Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Microsoft's Satya Nadella — of the companies showed in an interview with The New York Times in August.
"I want them to have access to as many of those A.I.s as possible," Bezos said.
Nadella also sounded positive regarding the partnership.
"The personality and expertise of each one will be such that if they interoperated, the user will get more out of it. That resonated for me and for him, and then that's what led to the teams working," he said.
Why The Delay?
However, even though the anticipation has been built up to such a degree, things apparently didn't work out on time.
It's unclear why the smart assistants' integration was pushed back, but a Microsoft spokesperson did assure Thurrott that the company will announce something soon, and an Amazon spokesperson also sung in the same tune, saying that the company is "working on it" and that it's safe to expect for a rollout soon.
What Could've Been But Didn't - Yet
If this pushed through, then owners of Alexa-enabled devices can call Cortana, while users of Cortana-powered platforms such as Windows 10 can call Alexa.
According to The New York Times report, a user can ask Alexa for Cortana by saying "Alexa, open Cortana." Meanwhile, a user can also ask Cortana for Alexa by saying "Cortana, open Alexa."
The Bottom Line
Long story short, Amazon and Microsoft are working together to bring their respective smart assistants to each other's platforms. That means Amazon devices such as the Echo Dot, which is the retailer's top-selling device in Christmas, will support Cortana, and Microsoft devices including PCs will support Alexa in the foreseeable future.
It's worth mentioning that the relationship between the two is a far cry from what Amazon and Google have, where the two have been more or less at each other's throats over the removal of YouTube on the Echo Show and the removal of Chromecast products on the Amazon website. However, the two are in talks to settle the feud.
