Cyanogen OS may integrate with Microsoft’s Cortana

Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana might be integrated into the newest version of the Cyanogen operating system. Cyanogen is an Android based alternative operating system for smartphones. The Cyanogen OS comes pre-installed on WileyFox and the original OnePlus One.

Kirt McMaster, co-founder and CEO of Cyanogen, Inc., said the company is working with Microsoft to deeply integrate Cortana. He said integration with Cortana will help Cyanogen position itself in the mass market. He believes Cortana is superior to Siri and Google Now, and that this superiority will prove crucial for Cyanogen’s success in the near future.

Cortana, however, has remained an app on Android. McMaster believes integrating Cortana as a component at the OS level will make an actual difference by enabling natural language with intelligence to power services. This change might soon materialize with the latest version of the Cyanogen operating system. The company believes the OS will not be dependent on Google’s core services and will prove to be a noteworthy competitor to Android and iOS.

Cyanogen, an open-source OS based on Android, was developed by Steve Kondik in 2009. In 2013, Cyanogen, Inc. was established by McMaster and Steve Kondik.

Back in April, Cyanogen announced it had entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft. This collaboration enabled Cyanogen to integrate and distribute Microsoft's apps and services, including Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Office and Bing.

“We aspire to have our tools within arm's reach of everyone, to empower them in all aspects of their lives. This partnership represents another important step towards that ambition,” said Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President of Microsoft on the partnership with Cyanogen.

Last May, Microsoft announced that Cortana will be coming to non-Windows platforms, as well. The company is expected to roll-out Cortana for iOS by the end of 2015, reports ZDNet.

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