https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/18/18187992/microsoft-cortana-satya-nadella-alexa-google-assistant-competitor

Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistant has fallen behind Google Assistant and Alexa over the past year, and now the software maker is taking a different approach to the competition. Speaking to journalists at a media event earlier this week, attended by The Verge, CEO Satya Nadella revealed that Microsoft no longer sees Cortana as a competitor to Alexa or Google Assistant. “Cortana needs to be that skill for anybody who’s a Microsoft 365 subscriber,” explains Nadella, referencing Microsoft’s new consumer subscription push. “You should be able to use it on Google Assistant, you should be able to use it on Alexa, just like how you use our apps on Android and iOS so that’s at least how we want to think about where it’ll go.”

Microsoft has already partnered with Amazon to enable Cortana and Alexa integration, and at the launch of the partnership Nadella compared digital assistants to web browsers that need to be interoperable and access similar information. It’s now clear that Nadella sees Cortana as an app or service that will work across multiple platforms, rather than Microsoft competing in Cortana hardware for consumers. Microsoft will still need to convince Google that Cortana integration is a good idea.