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Reports suggest that Microsoft’s Cortana for Android has leaked early, and the personal intelligent assistant can be currently installed on Android devices.
The Finnish mobile site Suomimobiili, cited by Endgadget, first announced the leak on Saturday. The voice assistant’s android version was announced earlier this year as available also for iOS and Android alongside Windows 10 devices, following Microsoft’s new policy of offering its upcoming apps over multiple systems. However, all versions were expected to be released on July 29th, the worldwide Windows 10 release date.
The Endgadget has confirmed that the leak is indeed a legitimate version of the personal voice assistant, albeit a beta release. They reportedly tested it on a HTC One M9 and managed to use its basic functions, but some of the features still seemed either unavailable or unresponsive. The leaked app has since spread over the internet, but no links have been pulled due to copyright infringement.
Venture Beat reports reached to Microsoft for a comment, and a spokesperson for the company stated that the app was probably leaked by China and US testers rather than a Microsoft employee. He went on to say that the app’s Android version will come out soon, without confirming any official release dates.
This might mean that the personal assistant is indeed nearing a release build for Android and possibly iOS systems. Currently, the intelligent personal assistant is available in beta form for Windows Phone 8.1 users and for those who participate in PC Windows 10 open beta, with rumored full release dates pointing towards an October release.
Cortana, the Windows equivalent of Apple’s Siri, is loosely based on a character from the popular Halo video game series, which is published by Microsoft. The program uses the same voice actress as the character, Jen Taylor.
Windows 10 news and leaks have been piling up in the last couple of days, as the worldwide release of Microsoft’s last iteration of the popular operating system. Just on Friday, Amazon listings a leaked a previously unannounced USB flash drive version of a Windows 10 install kit, prompting the software company to confirm that it is legit.
Some pundits believe that such leaks/listings without official announcements might be actually planned by the company to test public reception before officially committing through an announcement. Microsoft were sometimes forced in the past to roll back on previously announced decisions due to overly negative reception, like in 2013 when they had to axe multiple Xbox One features over public lashback.
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