One of the most exciting features that Microsoft unveiled when it announced Windows Phone 8.1 back at Build 2014 in early April was its new Cortana voice-based personal assistant. Many were quickly disappointed when Microsoft indicated that Cortana would initially launch only in the U.S. But there is good news today for Canada.
Speaking today at the Canadian Telecom Summit, Microsoft Canada President Janet Kennedy today revealed that the company is looking to have localization for Cortana completed for Canada later this summer. She even demonstrated the service at the event, asking it about the population of Canada as well as directions to get to the event.
If all goes well between now and the start of the rollout, Canadian Windows Phone users should be able to start using Cortana as soon as Windows Phone 8.1 hits their devices. If not, they will still be able to use it but will need to change a few settings (Language should be set to English (United States) and Region to United States with Regional format set to ‘Match phone language’).
The Windows Phone 8.1 update is expected to begin rolling out later this summer. Microsoft’s support pages show that it could begin rolling out early as later this month but it is not expected to hit Canadian devices until later this summer.
Source : MobileSyrup