Online giant’s partnership expands Alexa’s reach

Amazon’s newest move could take voice-assisted ordering to new levels.



The online giant is joining forces with Microsoft to integrate the companies' two digital assistants. This will allow Amazon’s Alexa to activate and talk to Microsoft’s Cortana device, and vice-versa.



Cortana customers can ask Alexa to shop on Amazon, control their smart home devices, and interact with more than 20,000 skills built by third-party developers, among other tasks. Meanwhile, Alexa users can access Cortana to book a meeting, access work calendars, and read email, among other requests.



“The world is big and so multifaceted. There are going to be multiple successful intelligent agents, each with access to different sets of data and with different specialized skill areas,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon. “Together, their strengths will complement each other and provide customers with a richer and even more helpful experience.”



The companies did not reveal a specific launch date, but said the devices will begin talking to each other later this year.



The partnership comes on the heels of Amazon rival Walmart’s announcement to jump into voice-activated ordering through the help of Google. Walmart will enable customers to order from “hundreds of thousands of items” via Google Assistant, the search giant's online shopping platform that lives on its smart speaker Google Home and other smart devices. It will be the largest number of items currently offered by a retailer through the platform, according to Walmart.



The program is expected to launch late September.