In 2024, Apple introduced Apple Intelligence as its contender in the rapidly evolving generative AI landscape, positioning it against rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Google’s Gemini.

However, the company failed to deliver its promise, prompting users to troll its AI strategy as vaporware, as it has only shipped trivial features like Writing Tools and Image Playground. Consequently, the tech giant was dragged to court for allegedly using "false" Apple Intelligence ads to drive iPhone 16 sales.

Apple execs, including Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi and Global VP of Marketing, Greg Joswiak, later revealed that the company hasn't shipped Apple Intelligence yet because it was concurrently developing two versions of the offering.

The company discovered that the first version of Apple Intelligence was consistent of critical limitations that wouldn't allow it to meet their customers' expectations. As such, the company abandoned the efforts to focus on the second version, where Federighi only vowed to discuss the status of its AI strategy when the V2 architecture was already delivering in-house, beyond mere video demonstrations.

Earlier today, Apple announced that it is partnering with Google to supercharge its AI-powered features with Gemini, including a major Siri upgrade, which is slated to ship later this year, potentially with the company's new lineup of iPhones.

As such, Apple's foundational models will be based on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology. This news doesn't come as a surprise, as Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple and Google were already in early discussions about the deal in August 2025, further suggesting that Apple would have to pay $1 billion a year to power its models with Google's AI.

But Apple's new AI deal affirms Google's dominance in the AI space and mobile, overshadowing OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot's chances to have their day in the sun.

In 2019, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates admitted that his greatest mistake during his tenure as CEO was losing the mobile space to Android, which cost the company $400 billion. Google seized the opportunity and now owns Android, making it easy to integrate its advanced AI capabilities across its wide user base.

It's evident that Microsoft is facing a difficult time driving engagement and users to its Copilot offering. This is despite the fact that the AI tool is based on the same technology as ChatGPT.

The software giant is seemingly doubling down on its AI efforts, with plans to evolve its Windows operating system into an agentic OS. The move has been received with backlash, suggesting that users aren't particularly excited about the idea, potentially due to the privacy and security issues riddling the technology.

It remains to be seen how Microsoft plans to drive more interest and engagement in Copilot; perhaps its chances might have been a tad better if Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's strategic mistake of pulling the plug on Windows Phone. But I guess we'll never know...

The new deal also raises concerns about Apple's partnership with OpenAI. In 2024, the iPhone maker announced that it was integrating ChatGPT into SIri to handle complex queries. .

Will Microsoft be able to catch a break in the mobile landscape with Copilot after Apple just partnered with Google to power its AI efforts? Share your thoughts in the comments and cast your vote in the poll!

Apple can be considered a late bloomer in the generative AI space compared to its rivals like Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic. The iPhone maker is well-known for its "not first, but best" mantra, which could potentially be attributed to its late investment in the landscape.

The tech giant announced its AI strategy, Apple Intelligence, last year, promising to overhaul Siri with next-generation capabilities that would evolve it beyond a simple digital assistant, allowing it to compete on an even playing field with ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.

However, it has now been over a year since Apple overpromised but ultimately underdelivered. Even before the company unveiled its AI suite of tools across its tech stack, insiders expressed concerns, citing that Apple's AI might already be two years behind OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Admittedly, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella argued that OpenAI had a 2-year runway to build and develop ChatGPT uncontested. Up to this point, Apple has only delivered minor AI features, such as Writing Tools and Image Playground, prompting some users to refer to Apple's flagship AI tools as vaporware.

Earlier this year, the company announced that it was delaying the launch of Apple Intelligence to 2026 but didn't explain why. The delayed AI strategy has seemingly brewed trouble for the iPhone maker, landing it in the corridors of justice as it fights a lawsuit for allegedly using "false" Apple Intelligence ads to drive iPhone 16 sales.

Apple Intelligence had two iterations yet none shipped

There has been considerable speculation about the reason behind Apple's delayed launch of Apple Intelligence. However, Tom's Guide Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer and TechRadar's Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff recently connected with Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, and Apple Global VP of Marketing, Greg Joswiak, to discuss the company's AI strategy.

As you may know, Apple recently held its annual developer conference, WWDC 2025, where it made a host of announcements, including iOS 26, which ships with Liquid Glass, a new UI reminiscent of Microsoft's Windows Aero UI in Vista. However, Apple Intelligence wasn't in the fold, a clear indication that the company plans to unveil it at a later date.

While speaking to the outlets, Federighi shed more light on Apple's delayed Apple Intelligence launch:

"We found that when we were developing this feature that we had, really, two phases, two versions of the ultimate architecture that we were going to create. Version one we had working here at the time that we were getting close to the conference, and had, at the time, high confidence that we could deliver it."

"We thought by December, and if not, we figured by spring, until we announced it as part of WWDC. Because we knew the world wanted a really complete picture of, 'What's Apple thinking about the implications of Apple intelligence and where is it going?'"

The executive revealed that Apple was working on two versions of the Siri architecture simultaneously, with the second version, which Federighi referred to as V2, featuring "a deeper end-to-end architecture that we knew was ultimately what we wanted to create, to get to a full set of capabilities that we wanted for Siri."

He further disclosed that the video demos showcased during Apple's WWDC 2024 were for the V1 Siri architecture. Apple doubled down on its efforts to develop and improve Apple Intelligence, as well as the overhauled Siri.

However, Apple quickly realized that the V1 architecture was consistent with critical limitations, which "weren't getting us to the quality level that we knew our customers needed and expected."

Apple says it came to this realization during the spring and decided to share the information with the world, announcing that it would not be able to deliver Apple Intelligence or the overhauled Siri within the previously communicated timeline.

At this juncture, Apple shifted its focus to the V2 Siri architecture. Federighi indicated that the company learned from its mistakes with the V1 architecture, vowing not to pre-communicate a launch date for Apple Intelligence and an overhauled Siri.

The executive indicated that the company would only discuss the status of its AI strategy when the V2 architecture is already delivering in-house, beyond mere video demonstrations.

Federighi joked that he could demo the V2 architecture Apple has been working on, but wouldn't, although he claimed that it's already working in-house, "but we're not yet to the point where it's delivering at the quality level that I think makes it a great Apple feature."

The executive indicated that the software and hardware giant wouldn't announce the launch date of its AI strategy until it is ready to seed it. He further shed more details about the V2 architecture Apple has been working on, stating:

"The V1 architecture was sort of half of the V2 architecture, and now we extend it across, sort of make it a pure architecture that extends across the entire Siri experience."

"So we've been very much building up upon what we have been building for V1, but now extending it more completely, and that more homogeneous end-to-end architecture gives us much higher quality and much better capability. And so that's what we're building now."

The executives indicated that Apple's AI vision isn't to deliver a chatbot for its users. "When we started with Apple Intelligence, we were very clear: this wasn't about just building a chatbot," added Federighi

Instead, Apple aims to integrate Apple Intelligence across its tech stack. "In a way that meets you where you are, not that you're going off to some chat experience in order to get things done," the executive concluded.

Apple has had a rough couple of months, predominantly because of its flopped AI strategy, President Trump's stringent tariffs, and depressed iPhone sales. Compared to its competitors like Microsoft and Google, the iPhone maker can be considered a late bloomer in the AI landscape.

Tim Cook, the company's CEO, has often touted the "not first, but best" mantra, potentially referring to one of the key ingredients that has heavily contributed to its success. However, the same cannot be said about Apple Intelligence, the company's AI strategy unveiled at WWDC 2024.

While Apple Intelligence seemingly passed the privacy and security test, but it's almost been a year and the company is yet to deliver an overhauled Siri assistant. A recent report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggested that Apple might already be 5 years behind Microsoft in the AI arm's race, even with OpenAI's ChatGPT backed into its overhauled assistant.

Perhaps more interestingly, The Information reports that Apple seemingly fumbled its chance to make Siri great again with an injection of sophisticated AI capabilities.

According to the outlet, Apple was supposed to develop small and large language models. The former would have handled simple tasks on-device like setting an alarm, as the latter took on complex tasks like hailing a cab for the iPhone user.

However, Apple pivoted from the plan and decide to develop a unified model that would handle every task thrown at it. The downside is that the company had veered off its safe AI promise, as the model would run in the cloud.

Consequently, several Apple staffers in the Siri division departed after their efforts to revamp the AI assistant were seemingly watered down by top management. The report further details that the abrupt change in plans predominantly contributed to Apple Intelligence's delayed shipment to 2026.

Poor leadership might be holding Apple back in the AI race

OpenAI's ChatGPT in undoubtedly the most popular AI app in the world, recently gaining one million new users in one hour after the company's ChatGPT-4o image generator shipped — flooding social media with Studio GhIbli-inspired memes.

A separate report revealed that ChatGPT's daily visits surpassed Microsoft Copilot's monthly visits in February 2025. For context, ChatGPT had over 52 times more visits than Microsoft Copilot in February 2025 in the U.S., with 173.3 million daily visits compared to Copilot's 98.9 million monthly traffic.

The Information reports that half a dozen former Apple employees who worked in its AI and machine-learning division under John Giannandrea, the company's Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI strategy blamed the executive's poor leadership skills, suggesting that it outrightly held back execution plans.

They further indicated that the leadership lacked ambition to take risks on designing future versions of Siri. On the tails of the company's sluggish AI strategy, the team working on the new and improved voice assistant has been branded an unsolicited nickname by other engineers within the company — AIMLess. For context, the nickname is a playful combination of the division's name, AI and machine-learning.

Former Apple staffers refer to Siri as a "hot potato" being passed around different teams with little results to show in terms of performance and improvements.

Elsewhere, Apple has been placed on the spot after allegedly marketing "vaporware" in the form of Apple Intelligence demo videos. Analysts have indicated that the company has barely scratched the surface with its bold gold-plaited promise, only delivering "trivial features," like Writing Tools and Image Playground.

Consequently, the company has found itself in the corridors of justice after complaints emerged, indicating that it used "false" Apple Intelligence ads to drive iPhone 16 sales. The lawsuit cites that the company has violated multiple false advertising and consumer protection laws.

What you need to know

• Former Siri team leader Bill Stasior has joined Microsoft's AI team.
• He was previously at Apple for nearly seven years.
• He will now report directly to Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott.

Former Siri vice president Bill Stasior is joining Microsoft's AI team, according to a new report from The Information. Stasior was previously on Apple's Siri team for nearly seven years before departing back in January.

Stasior joined Apple back in 2012 as part of the fairly new Siri team. Over the course of his time with the team, Siri made vast improvements but was never able to reach its true potential. Eventually Apple's voice assistant was surpassed by Google Assistant and has led ever since, though the gap has closed recently.

It's unclear if the lack of traction in the voice assistant battles was the reason for Stasior's departure. He will now join Microsoft as corporate vice president of technology directly reporting to CTO Kevin Scott where "he will work to help align strategies across the company."

As the report notes, Stasior's new role with Microsoft continues to underscore the reshuffling among high ranking AI engineers at the big tech companies. After all, Stasior was replaced at Apple by a former Google leader, John Giannandrea.

That isn't surprising as the importance of AI becomes more dire for these companies. Considering the amount of data these companies handle, not having a streamlined and efficient AI team could mean falling far behind the competition.

Nadella often says mobility is not about a single device but rather the mobility of a user's experiences across many devices supported by an intelligent cloud.

Google's CEO Sundar Pichai said in an interview just before Google I/O 2016 that he's "on a journey from mobile to AI."

The interview further expounded: "Pichai is also focused on shifting Google's journey from 'mobile-first to AI-first.'"

Coincidentally, during his keynote at Build 2017, Nadella shared that Microsoft too is moving from a mobile-first, cloud-first vision to one that places AI at the forefront.

So is Microsoft following Google?

The future of the PC is a family of devices connected by an intelligent cloud

Shift from mobile first, cloud first?

Nadella stated the following during his Build 2017 keynote:

Nadella during his Build 2017 keynote.

Oddly, it seems that Nadella is defining mobile first as being centered around one device and a single app model, rather than how he historically defined it. Furthermore, his shift toward an intelligent cloud and intelligent edge vision now adopts the "mobility-of-experiences" definition he historically applied to his mobile-first, cloud-first vision.

He further explained this platform shift has an AI focus that benefits from investments in the "edge of the cloud." Serverless computing allows for pieces of logic to exist outside of the bounds of a virtual machine (VM) making that logic mobile. Existing on the "edge of the cloud" where hundreds of gigabytes of data can be processed for tasks such as those associated with an autonomous or connected car, computational power moves to the cloud's edge. Nadella explained that AI in such an environment is more distributed.

Clearly, Microsoft's "mobility-of-experiences" vision remains unchanged, though it resides beneath an AI-first umbrella. Furthermore, investments in AI have been a decades-long strategy for Microsoft. Given these facts, one must wonder if Nadella's public setting of a new pole star from mobile first, cloud first to an AI-focused guidance is a reactive measure to Google's clear dedication to and observable success in the same.

Google's all about AI

Like Microsoft, Google invested in first-party hardware but for different reasons.

Microsoft's hardware strategy positions a growing family of Windows 10 devices as an actual and aspirational medium for the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). Google's hardware strategy provides a platform for its AI vision.

Both Microsoft and Google are invested in hardware, though for different reasons

Google's earlier AI, Google's Now, was founded on the popular industry-leading Google search engine. Its ability to serve and anticipate a range of Android and iPhone users' needs made it a leading personal assistant.

Unlike its rivals, Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana, however, it lacked attributes that made it personal. With Google Assistant, which is described as a user's personal Google, the Mountain View company has attempted to reframe the powerful search engine as every individual's personal Google.

Ok, Google Assistant

Google Assistant is more personal than its predecessor and gets to know users over time. During Google I/O 2016, the Google Home smart speaker, the Pixel smartphones, and Google's new messenger Allo were all introduced as platforms for the Assistant.

Truth be told, Google Assistant is as much a defensive move as it is an offensive move for Google. In an app- and AI-dominated world, "search" is no longer just a destination we go to; it's integrated into our apps and digital assistants. Google confronts this challenge to its core (ad revenue) business by making search personal and marketing Assistant as an evolution of the familiar Google search engine.

Google wants users to know its AI has the advantage of being based on the world's leading search engine. Rishi Chandra, vice president of product management for Google's living room devices, said: "There is no better engine of answering any question that you have. We fundamentally believe that."

Microsoft may fear that this is true given the number two position of Bing and consumers' general lack of awareness of Cortana.

Google's AI push

This year, Google expanded its AI vision by adding Google Assistant to smartwatches, Android TV, cars and the iPhone (joining Siri and Cortana). The company also expanded the Assistant's ability through Google Home and Chromecast. Visual responses from Google Home can now appear on the TV.

Google I/O 2017.

Google Lens, the company's AI-driven camera app, allows users to point their phones' cameras at people, places and things to glean information about them based on Google's extensive knowledge graph.

Like Microsoft and the 2016 private preview release and recent general release of the Cortana SDK, Google has released the Assistant SDK. Third parties can now integrate Assistant into their hardware as Cortana was incorporated into the Harman Kardon speaker.

Microsoft, Cortana and AI

In 2014, while the tech world was focused on health platforms, wearables and the rumored bigger iPhones, Microsoft was fine-tuning its AI vision. Cortana was about to make its debut on Windows Phone. Beyond a mere voice assistant, it was obvious then Cortana had potential as an intelligent UI for transient computing across Windows devices.

AI, bots and canvases: An evolving view of Microsoft's AI vison

In early 2014, few foresaw Microsoft's embrace of the iPhone and Android, however, though by July 2015 it was evident. Nor did I see, then, Cortana as a singular artificial intelligent UI for users' experiences across Windows, iOS and Android bound together by the Microsoft graph, as demonstrated at Build 2017.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave a forward-looking description of the unifying effects of Microsoft's graph in 2013. His statements are specific to Windows devices but foreshadow Microsoft's Windows-as-a-hub, binding users' cross-platform experiences:

Microsoft's graph as a unifier of all platforms and experiences is a vital part of the company's AI and platform vision.

As a single underlying "super platform," Microsoft's graph enables Cortana to become the UI for experiences for all platforms. This approach to AI in conjunction with Cortana's democratization via the SDK makes Microsoft's strategy a worthy contender to Google's well-positioned Assistant.

Are Microsoft's AI efforts following Google's?

Microsoft began investments in machine learning, natural language processing, and deep neural networks long before Google became an AI-first company.

Ballmer and Gates pave way for Nadella's AI vision

In the following video, Microsoft Research's Eric Horvitz talks about the company's investments in AI:

During Build 2016, Microsoft introduced Conversation as a Canvas and the Bots Framework. Nadella also described Cortana as a meta-app that would interface with bots. Apps such as Skype, WhatsApp, Line, Slack and others were described as canvases for conversations that would connect with bots and AI, and human language was then identified as the UI.

This year's integration of iOS and Android into the Microsoft graph and Cortana's positioning as its UI is the progression of an AI vision at Microsoft that had early roots in Microsoft Bob.

So, no, Microsoft is not following Google's AI efforts.

I believe, however, that Nadella's statement shifting Microsoft from a mobile-first, cloud-first motto is a deliberate public acknowledgment of his awareness of how important and competitive AI has become and will be. Considering Microsoft's already considerable investments in and previously communicated plans for AI, I believe Microsoft wanted the industry and competitors to know that, like Google, Redmond is all about AI.

Must Read:

AI, bot's and canvases: Five-part series on Microsoft's AI strategy

The Internet of Intelligent Things: Google, Samsung, Microsoft and the new battlefront

Microsoft's cognitive services

The latest Windows Phone ad not only pits Cortana against Apple's Siri, but shows off some of the features that the optional HTC Dot View Cover can do on the Windows Phone-powered HTC One (M8) for Windows. The ad starts with Siri looking in the mirror, admiring her prettiness, and goes on to the One (M8) for Windows showing off the features of the Dot View Cover, like activating Cortana, receiving notifications, and answering calls. In terms of similar cases for the iPhone? The fun stops there as it looks like other iPhone covers just muffle up Siri.

The best part is that from now through January 31, 2015, HTC is throwing in a free limited edition Dot View Cover with the purchase of the One (M8) for Windows.

Thanks to James for the tip.

Over the course of 3086 queries made by digital marketing consulting firm Stone Temple, Android's voice-activated search through Google Now returned 1795 results enhanced with custom content, while Siri on the iPhone served up 908 knowledge panels, and Windows Phone's Cortana gave 630. Knowledge panels are custom-built to answer specific types of questions, and do more than just shoot back web results.

Of those knowledge panels, Google Now search scored 88% accuracy for properly addressing questions, Siri came back right 53% of the time, and Cortana got 40%.

Those conducting the study pointed out that their focus was on knowledge panels, and not full digital assistant functions like adding calendar appointments or dictating e-mails. That said, don't take these results as providing a complete assessment of what your platform offers. Windows Phone in particular had some interesting differences between Cortana- and Bing-based searches.

Google is the grand-daddy of search, so it's no surprise to seem them performing so well on mobile. Still, there are many facets to voice assistants, a feature which Apple popularized enough to spawn legions of imitators. It's interesting to see that in at least one category, one of those successors has a lead. With any luck, we'll see the gap close between all three as these features mature.

Keeping in mind that the data generated from this study is hardly definitive, it does provide an interesting comparison. Hit up the source link for more information on how the study was done. How many of you guys have dabbled in multiple voice assistants? Which has been the most helpful to you so far?

Source: Stone Temple Consulting

Microsoft's routine of comparing Windows Phone to the iPhone is continuing with two new video ads published to the web (and likely to air on US TV). The 21-second commercials called 'Remind Me' and 'Lost' highlight two features of Cortana that Siri simply cannot do, despite having a significant launch advantage of years. Both ads feature the Lumia 635, which does have an aggressive TV presence in the US with T-Mobile and AT&T.

In the first ad the ability of Cortana to notify users of driving times for an upcoming appointment is juxtaposed against Siri, where no such function exists (Android can do this as well). Cortana users should be familiar with the feature as it often prompts you with an alert, letting you know that you should leave now if you want to make your appointment.

The second TV spot spotlights the 'Remind Me' feature of Cortana. This feature is where the personal assistant can send you an alert when you are speaking with the designated person on the phone or even through a text message. For instance, if a friend texts you, Cortana can remind you that it is her birthday and to say something. As far as we know, this feature of Cortana is unique, and it is certainly helpful for those with busy social lives.

The two new ads are an expansion of the previous Cortana vs. Siri battle. The ad 'Groundhog day' highlighted a few Cortana features in one 30-second spot, while the 'Group therapy' commercial takes a more unorthodox approach in comparing the two virtual assistants.

Both of the new ads are short, to the point, and precise enough that consumers can discern the main selling point. They are also a little humorous, if you appreciate tongue-in-cheek wit. However, there is a strident contingent of people who believe Microsoft should back off on doing iPhone comparisons, and instead focus on boasting about Windows Phone on its own. Surely, it is a touchy situation, but we will leave it to you to judge.

Source: Nokia 1, 2

Apple may have revealed its new iPhone 6 models earlier today but during today's press conference in Cupertino, Microsoft decided to release a new Windows Phone TV commercial that once again pits its Cortana digital assistant on the Lumia 635 against Siri on the iPhone 5s.

In this new clip, posted on the Nokia YouTube channel, Siri seems to have a bit of a memory problem with remembering things like appointments, favorite restaurants and more. Of course, Cortana is shown as having no issues with remembering these topics. Siri admits the only thing she can remember is that she was once the only phone that talked.

What do you think of this latest commercial that pits Cortana against Siri?

Source: Nokia on YouTube

This morning, Cortana for Windows Phone 8.1 was unleashed to the US through the Preview for Developers program. Microsoft’s new personal voice assistant is taking aim against Apple’s Siri on the iPhone and Android’s Google Now.

But how well does Microsoft do out the gate? Will Cortana’s beta status hold her back?

We pitted Cortana against an iPhone 5S and a Motorola Moto X to see just how good (or bad) the new flagship Windows Phone feature compares. Head past the break to catch the video!

Our seven minute trial will take all three voice assistants through some basic tasks. We tried to be fair and give them all a chance to perform and sure enough, they all did. Such tasks given included:

• “Call Sam Sabri on Skype”
• “What is the weather like on Tuesday?”
• “Navigate to Dunkin Donuts”
• “What is the best rated Indian restaurant around me?”
• “Post a new Tweet”
• “Foursquare check-in”

What’s the take away? We’ll let you decide but from our hands on tests, we can definitely say that Microsoft’s Cortana, even as a beta, can go head to head with Apple and Google. While there is still room for improvement, Microsoft has done a commendable job of offering a similar service to their competitors, and it shouldn’t be too long before they surpass them.

How are you liking Cortana? Did you think our test was fair? Let us know below and don't forget to check out our Cortana forums!

• Forums

Video credit: Mark Guim

The search engine that was first launched five years ago by Microsoft in 2009 as a competitor to the giant multinational corporation, Google, now has a global markets share of 5.62% across desktops and 2.64% across mobile devices. Bing is currently ranked as the world’s third most popular search engine and sits behind Yahoo’s 8.22% and Google’s massive 83.04% desktop search engine market share.

However, Microsoft is not just trying to get users to visit their own website – they are playing the covert operations game and acting as the backend for many services you and your friends may use. In fact, you might be loving Bing and not even know it.

Yahoo Search

The same year that Bing launched, Microsoft and Yahoo announced that they would be making a deal to use Bing as the backend for Yahoo’s own search engine. You can see the partnership for yourself by heading over to Yahoo and typing in any search query your wish; when you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see “Powered by Bing”.

Consider this idea when looking at Bing’s market share for desktops, while Bing is in third place and Yahoo is in second place – they both use the same backend. We could actually combine Yahoo and Bing’s market share to get 13.84%, so while people might not actually be heading to Bing’s website – they are still using the Bing search engine when they visit Yahoo.

Facebook Search

If you are enjoying the world’s largest social network, Facebook, then you might also be enjoying Microsoft’s Bing search engine from time to time. The massive networking site reported in December that over 1.23 billion active users engage in the network every single month.

When you use Facebook’s search bar to search the web for content or query questions such as “Sushi restaurants my friends like”, the results are being pulled from Microsoft’s Bing API. Facebook’s entire website uses Bing search results to power discovery, along with maps displays. If you are using Facebook, there is a good chance that you are at some point, using Bing.

Apple's Siri

One of the most interesting places to find Bing in action is within Apple’s ecosystem. Despite Microsoft and Apple’s differences, the Cupertino based company uses Bing to power search on its various range of electronic devices. When Apple had a fallout with Google in June 2013, they announced that they would be switching over to Microsoft Bing as a replacement.

Do you have friends who are major Apple fans, but contest Bing as a reputable search engine? Feel free to let them know that any of their devices with iOS 7 or higher are using Bing to power Apple’s digital personal assistant, Siri. That is right; one of Apple’s most famous software features is powered in-part by Microsoft’s Bing.

Windows and Xbox

Moreover, of course, we cannot forget that Bing is now integrated into every facet of the Microsoft ecosystem itself. Whether you are using an Xbox, Windows 8 PC, or Windows Phone device, you are probably interacting with Bing from time to time.

Microsoft first introduced Bing search onto the Xbox 360 dashboard to allow consumers to search across the web and various applications for specific forms of content including music, video, and games. When the Xbox One launched this past November, we saw the same ability integrated into the console, but with a bit more polish using Kinect. Simply say “Xbox Bing” and you can easily search for various forms of content; the algorithm has also evolved, so saying, “Xbox Bing – I want to watch a Sci-Fi movie from the 1960s” will bring up relevant results for you to sift through.

With Windows 8’s first update – Windows 8.1, a new feature known as Smart Search was introduced. Smart Search allows users to quickly view search results from across their device and the web simultaneously. For example, from the start screen of a Windows 8.1 machine, I can type “Daft Punk” and hit the ENTER key, then not only am I shown music tracks on my device by Daft Punk, but I am also shown the top web results in relation to the topic searched.

Windows Phone

Lastly, we can clearly see that Bing is tightly integrated into Windows Phone; it may not be the same subtle approach we have seen in other services, but merely another example of Bing’s presence. Those who are Windows Phone users know that Bing cannot be change as the default search engine when pressing the hardware search button. Those who are looking to escape from Bing are forced to download a standalone Google search app – the only official application he company has released on Windows Phone.

In addition, the aforementioned Bing Smart Search within Windows 8 is set to land on Windows Phone with the upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update later this year. For more information about the upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update and to learn more about the Bing software additions coming soon, you can checkout our full list of features by clicking here.

The Solution

Bing has been around for five years now and is available in 40 languages around the globe, but market share still feels thin. Amazon’s Alexa subsidiary currently ranks Bing as the twenty-third most popular website in the world and the tenth most popular within the United States.

While Bing is out in full force in its attempts to attack Google with campaign’s such as “Bing it On”, their battlefields are not just the most obvious of choices. Microsoft has gone strategic with Bing and has used their influences and connections to encourage companies such as Yahoo, Facebook, and Apple to use the search engine behind the scenes.

Microsoft is well aware that the word “Bing” carries a slightly negative connotation with it. At times, Bing seems to be lobbed into the same piles as Vista, Kin, and Microsoft Bob. In essence, blatant bias against Microsoft’s search engine may be the reason that providing backend support for services might be the company’s best choice.

As we have previously reported on before, the Bing it On campaign showed that a majority of users prefer to use the search engine over Google when they are completely unaware of which is which. Microsoft does not seem to have any plans on changing the name, so maybe the surprise approach is the right away to go.

If you told your Google using friends that they have actually been loving Bing search on their iPhones, iPads, Facebook pages, and around the web – do you think they would give Bing more credit?

Come this April, Microsoft is expected to unveil Windows Phone 8.1 at their Build conference in San Francisco. That OS refresh will be announced on the 18 month anniversary of 8.0, putting Microsoft on the dot for their planned release cycle, one that is expected to be accelerated to 12 months next time around i.e. ‘Threshold’.

One of the anticipated features of 8.1 is codenamed ‘Cortana’, its namesake taken from the AI assistant from the popular gaming franchise Halo. ‘Cortana’ is expected to replace (or augment) the current Bing TellMe service found on Windows Phone 8.0. Recently, MSFTNerd, who claims to be in the know about certain Microsoft plans, has made some interesting assertions about ‘Cortana’.

The Halo voice comes to Windows Phone?

In a brief post on his Tumblr account, MSFTNerd states the following:

We’ve been digging around for some information regarding ‘Cortana’ and from various sources, we now know that some of this may be wishful thinking.

Specifically, the name. While just about everyone wants Microsoft to call their new voice assistant Cortana – even the folks at Microsoft – as usual these things are not that simple. For one, Halo is developed by 343 Industries, which is owned by Microsoft but still operates as its own company in many ways. So while taking the name of an AI character from a video game an appropriating it for a voice tool for a phone seems like a no-brainer from a geek perspective, the reality of it is it’s not that easy due to licensing and even business considerations.

That’s not to say Microsoft is not considering it – they certainly are – it’s just not clear yet if they can pull it off. There is some precedent though, including the re-branding of Microsoft’s project ‘Surface’ to ‘PixelSense’, allowing Microsoft to adopt that name for their tablet line. The difference there, however, was Microsoft Surface at the time was not a widespread consumer product, making disambiguation more straightforward (instead, Microsoft Surface was sold as an end-to-end product directly to large firms).

Unfortunately, we have not been able to confirm that Jen Taylor, the voice of the AI in Halo, will be doing the vocal sound for the ‘Cortana’ project on Windows Phone. In fact, there is a problem here to consider, as brought to our attention by one of our sources:  “…programmed voices have to be able to pronounce almost anything and getting a human voice recorded that would sound like the game version when all dialog is set might not pan out.”

To put it another way, if Taylor is the voice for the Windows Phone program, it’s not well known throughout the ranks just yet, nor is it in current builds. So if true, it's a very recent decision that hasn't been executed yet. We'll follow up as we collect more information on the matter.

The good news is ‘Cortana’ is set to go into private beta testing with family members at Microsoft, so long as they sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This suggests that the project is ready-enough for external testing, and it bodes well for April’s reveal at Build 2014.

In terms of porting ‘Cortana’ to the iPhone and Xbox, while this sounds like a good idea, according to people familiar with the matter this has not yet begun. So the decision may have been made at an executive level, but currently there are no builds yet floating around. Indeed, ‘Threshold’ is still more ideas than a reality at this point with features not yet committed to by the development teams. But it should be clear that ‘Cortana’ is an ambitious project by Microsoft, one that they would naturally extend to their other services and platforms.

Design

The Superintendent from Halo 3: ODST is similiar to what the UI for "Cortana" might look like.

What does ‘Cortana’ look like? We’ve heard one description, a little bit dated but still accurate, put it thusly:

Another person familiar with Microsoft’s ‘Cortana’ plans put it this way:

In terms of functionality, we previously described ‘Cortana’ being very Siri-like:

It is rather “sci-fi / Halo-ish” in terms of looks, but it’s not clear that it will actually be called Cortana nor use Jen Taylor’s voice.

Coming soon

Hope springs eternal though and Microsoft is well aware of the demand to associate Windows Phone with their Halo franchise. However, we’ll have to wait and see exactly what Redmond can pull off come this April. ‘Cortana’, whatever it may be called, should be one of many new features coming to Windows Phone 8.1, giving Microsoft a new edge with their burgeoning OS.

And we can’t wait.

Apple has today unveiled that Siri in iOS 7 will be using Bing as its programmed search engine. The friendly voice-controlled assistant will be able to control more elements and functions of the iPhone, but we're pleased to see Apple choose Microsoft over Google for searching and interacting with the Interwebz. As well as Bing, Siri will make full use of services including Wikipedia and Twitter.

Apple is also competing against Windows Phone, so why has the company sided with Microsoft? Come on, this is good guy Microsoft we're talking about here. Redmond is Apple's only option for search that isn't Google and the company has been attempting to eliminate its dependencies on the search giant for some time (remember the whole Apple Maps fiasco?).

If you'd like to follow all the happenings at WWDC then be sure to head on over to our sister website, iMore.

Source: iMore

Microsoft has been busy pushing out commercials that show their latest operating system can do more than just play games. The latest ad from Redmond doesn’t just put on a suit and tie to strut its work capabilities, it makes fun of Apple’s iPad in the process.

The commercial opens with a side by side of ASUS’s VivoTab and the world famous fruit tablet. Microsoft’s minimalist approach is very reminiscent of Apple’s commercials and makes it clear that this is a parody right down to the musical chopstick routine.

Our favorite virtual assistant, Siri, narrates the entire show, commenting on everything that she can’t do that Windows 8 tablets can. Live tiles, side by side applications, and PowerPoint slides are all touched upon.

Microsoft also doesn't forget to mention that an ASUS VivoTab 64 GB at $449 is much cheaper than Apple's iPad 64 GB at $699.

What do you think about Microsoft’s Windows 8 commercials going head to head with Apple’s iPad?

Source: WindowsVideos, Thanks, Dustin, for the tip!

Marc Edwards of Bjango, Guy English of Kicking Bear, Loren Brichter of Atebits, Sebastiaan de With of DoubleTwist, and Rene Ritchie of Mobile Nations talk human interfaces of the future, including Siri, Google Now, Kinect, Leap, MYO, Project Glass, iWatch, Oculus Rift, and more!

• Subscribe via iTunes: Iterate | Debug
• Subscribe via RSS: Iterate | Debug
• Download Directly

Show notes

• Siri
• Google Now
• Xbox Kinect
• Leap Motion
• MYO
• Project Glass
• Occulus Rift
• iWatch (theoretical)

Panelists

• Marc Edwards (@marcedwards) of Bjango
• Guy English (@gte) of Kicking Bear
• Loren Brichter (@lorenb) of Atebits
• Sebastiaan de With (@sdw) of Icon Designer
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) of iMore.com

Feedback

Yell at us on Twitter via the above accounts. Loudly.

The speech recognition service, offering similar capabilities to Apples Siri is set to get a sweet little cash injection. The company has just walked away from talks to inject $5 million US into expanding its service to include more accents and languages.

The company is working closely with Nuance Communications to deliver mobile apps for Android and Apple devices and even bring the service to normal cell phones too. They aim to bring the service to tablets and computing headsets also.

Ask Ziggy also announced that they intend to release its SDK shortly. Sounds like good news for the company. It is clear that investors see the market value of these speech recognition systems. As Windows Phones users, we have had Ask Ziggy for some time and overall folks seem happy with the service.

We recently wrote about the lack of TellMe technology going into Windows 8, perhaps allowing services like Ask Ziggy to fill that gap could provide a better experience to users. Windows Phone 8 is to see quite a jump in its conversational abilities, although we have yet to see if it handles those Siri-like queries. We’re excited at the prospect of better speech recognition software, the applications for naturally talking to our devices are huge. There are still hurdles to overcome before we’re having that frantic conversation with HAL to open the pod bay doors. Ask Ziggy is convinced I’m either called Robot or Roberts or even the rather creepy Popit. Most of this is down to accent, being an East Londoner means I do have one, even if relatively mild.

Do many of you regularly use Ask Ziggy? If so, we would like to know how you have found the service. Do you think this latest cash boost will help enable some interesting new advances? Let us know in the comments bellow.

Click Here to grab Ask Ziggy 

Source : MoneyLife

Although many people are using Ask Ziggy on Windows Phone these days, the search for a viable alternative to the iPhone’s Siri continues. While we’re unsure of what Microsoft has planned in this arena for Windows Phone 8, WP7 users certainly want options.

A new alternative is on the Marketplace now called simply enough ‘Assistant’. It’s made by Speak To It and while it normally costs $0.99 it’s going for free now for the first 10,000 downloads.

It uses the same Nuance voice engine as Ask Ziggy, so in that regards it’s not necessarily any better nor worse. But the UI design and layout are quite nice. You get a custom Avatar to interact with and a choice of 4 different voices (UK and US English). The app can learn your name and you can name it too (we called ours Siri of course).

The app has some bugs and on the first time loading, it tends to hang (just hit the Windows key and re-launch). Over just Wi-Fi it didn’t work—at least not on our Titan II though it performed well on our Lumia 900. Since it uses Nuance, it is hit or miss with accuracy but we do like the options including the ability to Tweet or update our Facebook. It can even create notes and then upload them to EverNote which is quite useful. Assistant heavily relies on Google instead of Bing which some may find off-putting.

Would we pay for it? Probably not. But for free there’s little reason to not get it if it’s something you think you would use. See our video review to see how it works.

You can pick Assistant up here in the Windows Phone Marketplace for $0 while you can. Thanks, Barry W., for the heads up

You could sum up this news with a simple "Boo!", but I'm sure you are all aware how we love to babble on slightly. Siri, Apple's personal assistant for iPhone 4S owners, has been 'fixed' after the fiasco surrounding the helper stating the Lumia 900 as "the best cell phone ever". The humorous result / answer was due to Siri's reliance on an external service, namely Wolfrom Alpha, which took into account user reviews when performing the search. 

Apple has since replaced this search and altered what is relayed back to the user. Answers now provided to the query include "the one you're holding" and "you're kidding, right?" You can still perform a manual search on Wolfram Alpha and receive the same result, but this shows that Apple has zero sense of humour. No longer is Siri accurately useful to Windows Phone fans.

"What can I help you with?" Not much, I'm afraid.

Source: Apple Insider, via: The Verge

Siri, the personal assistant found on the iPhone 4S, has been making headlines for Apple today, but for all the wrong reasons. The image above explains what's going on better than any words in this article. Should you happen to ask Siri "what's the best cell phone ever?", you'll be greeted with a surprising response. Not only does Siri choose a device that's not an Apple product, but it chooses the Lumia 900 Windows Phone. 

This result is produced by taking the mobile phone that's rated the highest by consumers and the cyan AT&T Lumia 900 just so happens to fit the bill. Siri found the above answer by using Wolfram Alpha, which lists the Windows Phone when visitors type in the same query. The launch of the Lumia 900 was met by an extremely high level of satisfaction from customers who purchased the handset, regardless of the issues that appeared.

We gave it a shot with Ask Ziggy to see what the Windows Phone Siri-like assistant thought of all this. Unfortunately, it appeared to be slightly smarter than Siri with leading us to a Bing SERP listing articles covering "top ten mobile phones", etc. Smart move Zig-meister. Smart move.

Does anyone find it even remotely humorous how the Windows Phone community (and tech media) have jumped on this story? At the end of the day, Apple can take something away from this - Siri has proven to be relatively accurate.

Source: Techtudo; thanks to everyone who tipped us!

We showed you the latest version of Ask Ziggy, the Siri-like app knowledge app, last week and we told you it'll be here soon. Sure enough, the app has now been updated in the Marketplace, bringing all that new re-designed goodness free to your phone.

As we remarked and showed in our video, Ask Ziggy v2.0 brings a new Metro look, geolocation localization to answer questions about whereabouts, weather, time and searches. It's also a bit smarter, allowing the developer to update certain features from the backend.

So how much attention is Ask Ziggy getting? A lot. Our first video has 166K views, Microsoft has taken an interest in it. And now we have word that that Nokia has personally invited Ask Ziggy to give a special demo of their voice recognition technology at its 3-domed “Nokia Lab” at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Festival on March 12th. What's more they've doubled their staff from one to two people, which is quite impressive when you think about what they're up against.

Grab Ask Ziggy in the Marketplace for free right here. Let us know in comments your thoughts. Thanks, zoljac, for the heads up

If there was an over-hyped technology in late 2011 it was perhaps Apple's Siri, their voice recognition/information application for the iPhone 4s. Now we'll admit that Siri is quite a strong piece of tech one that we wish Windows Phone had built-in in addition to our Bing Voice service, but the marketing machine behind Siri was a tad overwhelming. Then again, there's no denying facts: Bing Voice while pragmatic for certain tasks is still behind Apple's Siri in some ways.

However, developer Shai Leib has given us Windows Phone users an option: Ask Ziggy. The new app is a free, ad-free and as far as we can tell, completely unique. We spoke with Leib about his project and how it works:

That's some pretty impressive work for a single developer if you ask us. The actual voice-recognition software is based on Nuance but the data fetching and matching are all his doing. And it works. That's one thing we want to stress here, we didn't find this app gimmicky at all but instead quite useful for mathematical questions, random trivia, posting to our Twitter/Facebook/Live, getting directions, flight status and more. Having the phone read back to you the answer in a clean, minimalist setting makes it feel smart. Heck, it even got our Monty Python question right (see YouTube video).

The version you see in the video is heading to the Marketplace as we speak but you can grab the slightly older version right now. Give it a go--it's free, useful and really quite an extraordinary app. Leib also has a lot of plans to further refine and enhance the experience including expanded speech grammar, multi-language support and even language translations. Check out the Ask Ziggy website here for more info.