Amazon seems to become more enthusiastic about its AI enabled voice Assistant: Alexa. The company has already announced a round of new advancements fo its AI sensation. A new insight suggests that Amazon has also joined hands with Microsoft to enhance the performance of Alexa. This means that Cortana and Alexa will both be supportive of each other as well as being interconnected.
According to GSMArena, the new tie-up between Amazon and Microsoft will reportedly bring Cortana support to Amazon's Alexa enabled Echo hardware. Also, the users of Amazon Echo will also be able to make Skype calls with the help of Alexa. Amazon also noted that the Skype calling feature is currently limited to the Amazon Echo device.
This means that users of Echo will be able to connect to anyone as per their requirement via Skype just by making a voice command to Alexa for the purpose. The company also noted that this voice instruction based Skype calling facility will be available to all to the Alexa enabled devices by sometime later.
In an official blog post on Microsoft's Skype page, Gaurav Sareen, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft noted: "We are excited to bring Skype calling to Alexa devices, so users can easily communicate with their friends and family from their Echo devices, simply using voice. Users can make outgoing Skype voice and video calls, accept incoming Skype calls, and even make SkypeOut calls to most phone numbers around the world. For example, simply say, "Alexa, call Jimmy on Skype," or if Jimmy is calling you on Skype, say, "Alexa, answer."
He further stated: "This is the next step in the collaboration between Microsoft and Amazon to deliver delightful customer experiences through voice, which began with joining Cortana and Alexa. Since then, we've added Alexa integration on Xbox and are continuing to work together to bring the best of Skype and Alexa together to enable intelligent communications for our users."
While describing the availability of the service. he said: " Alexa users will soon be able to take advantage of the high-quality Skype network across the globe to easily connect with others from any device type such as PC, mobile phone, and Xbox." Amazon is also rumored to bring more attributes to its AI enabled Assistant very soon.
The video conference and calls via Skype will now be enabled with Amazon Echo devices having a screen. The service may also add a connectivity option to Laptop and Wifi-enabled TVs as well, at a later point in time.
