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SAN FRANCISCO: A employee poses for a photo with a new Nokia Lumia 1520 at the More Lumia media event. — AFP reveals Siri-like feature Microsoft launches ‘’

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Wednesday took functional applications that strongly influence deci- on Apple’s Siri and Google Now with a smartphone sions about what gadgets to buy. Microsoft is also personal assistant dubbed “Cortana.” Windows keen to entice business and consumers to remain Phone vice president Joe Belfiore introduced faithful to its computer operating system-the soft- Cortana onstage at the technology titan’s annual ware platform on which the Redmond, developers conference. “Cortana is the first truly Washington-based company’s fortune was built-as personal digital assistant who learns about me, and it phases out support for its much-loved but aging the things that matter to me most, and knows version Windows XP. “We have a billion-plus PCs about the whole Internet,” Belfiore said in a presen- (personal computers) that will all be upgrading,” tation. Cortana responds to conversationally spo- freshly-minted Microsoft chief executive Satya ken requests or commands, using insights gleaned Nadella told the gathering of developers. “That is a from calendars, contact lists, online searches and significant opportunity for any application that tar- other smartphone sources to respond in a manner gets Windows.” Nadella told the gathering of akin to a real-life aide, Belfiore said. Cortana’s voice developers that Microsoft is “innovating in every and character is based on a popular artificial intelli- dimension” to gain momentum in lifestyles increas- gence character in Microsoft’s blockbuster ingly revolving around mobile devices and services console video game “Halo.” offered by computers in the Internet “cloud.” It comes as a long-awaited counter to the Siri Software improvements were aimed at busi- virtual assistant on Apple mobile devices and ness, where Microsoft products remain strong, as Google Now capabilities in Android tablets and well as at the booming tablet and smartphone . Cortana will be in a test, or beta, markets. Microsoft also used the stage to mode when it becomes available in a Windows announced that Nokia will release a set of low- Phone 8.1 software update, which is to begin priced Windows-powered Lumia smartphones, rolling out in the United States in coming months. starting in developing markets in Asia and India The new version of .1 should be next month before gradually working its way to the available on new phones beginning in late April or United States in July. early May, according to Belfiore. The move takes aim at markets being over- Microsoft met with real-life personal assistants looked and underserved, and breaks from trying to while designing Cortana, which is powered behind slug it out with Apple and Android-pow- the scene by search engine Bing, he said. As do Siri ered Samsung handsets in countries where buyers and Google Now, Cortana can remind users of are more interested in high-end or medium-tier flights, appointments, birthdays, routes, or other devices, according to Gartner principal research information for managing lives. “Imagine a real per- analyst Tuong Huy Nguyen. “They really needed to sonal assistant, and the kinds of things you might move the price point of Windows devices down ask to be organized,” Belfiore said while extolling market, and this seems to be a step in that direc- Cortana’s capabilities. After being tested in the US, tion,” Nguyen said. Cortana will expand to Britain and China, and then “The US is essentially a two-horse market with other countries. In a sign that Microsoft gave Apple and Samsung; they have tried to push in Cortana a playful side, Belfiore asked the virtual with previous Lumia devices but it is hard.” assistant to reveal the storyline of the next “Halo” Microsoft last year announced a $7.2 billion deal game only to be told “I’m quite certain you don’t to buy Nokia’s phone business and a patent port- have the proper security clearance for that informa- folio. Former Nokia chief Stephen Elop, now a tion.” vice president at Microsoft’s devices division, said there was just “a short time to go” before the Wooing the app makers acquisition is completed. Elop unveiled three Insights into updates of Windows software for new Windows-powered Lumia models during mobile devices and traditional computers came as the opening of the gathering of application Microsoft wooed developers of the fun, hip, or developers. —AFP