Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant never reached the market share needed to compete with Google Assistant and Alexa, and Microsoft is starting to scale back its ambitions. The Cortana Android app has already been removed in several countries, and now Microsoft is taking it out of its Android app launcher.
A new blog post from Microsoft revealed that Cortana is being reworked to offer “enhanced, seamless personal productivity assistance,” focusing on tasks like reminders, managing calendars and emails, and so on. Some functionality, like controlling music playback and third-party skills, is being removed from the Windows 10 version of Cortana.
Finally, Microsoft announced that it will be “turning off the Cortana services in the Microsoft Launcher on Android by the end of April.” Those of you who want to continue using the assistant can still download the separate Cortana application.
