Although Nokia has accounted for most of the Windows Phone shipments today, Microsoft has signed up 14 new manufacturing partners in the last six months, including heavyweights like Samsung, HTC, Huawei and ZTE. The update, described in April at Microsoft Corp.'s developer conference, will also introduce new hardware capabilities as the software giant seeks hardware partners beyond Nokia, whose device unit it purchased in April. Users in Australia, Canada and India will also be allowed to use a version of Cortana, although the Redmond, Washington-based company said that would be an earlier test mode and tailored to U.S. In Britain, users will get an app that has a British accent and be up to date about English Premier League soccer and other local matters. In China, the app nicknamed "Xiao Na," will speak Mandarin and include locally relevant information, like air quality reports in weather updates and information on local TV shows and celebrities. The company's corporate vice-president of operating systems, Joe Belfiore, said Wednesday in Beijing that Chinese and British users of Windows Phones will get the voice-recognizing app in an update to Windows Phone 8.1 that will begin rolling out to developers next week and to users in the coming months. LOS ANGELES - Microsoft is spreading its Cortana digital assistant abroad, starting with China and the U.K.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |