Microsoft has a new TV commercial for its Windows Phone 8.1 Cortana assistant in which it’s taking new shots at one of its biggest competitors, Apple’s voice-based assistant Siri. The new ad, titled “Happy Anniversary,” shows a smartphone user issuing certain commands to an iPhone 5s (Siri) and a Lumia 635 (Cortana), with only the latter able to recognize them and deliver appropriate responses.
FROM EARLIER: How Microsoft plans to give Cortana more brain power than anything Siri can muster
Microsoft is basically advertising Cortana’s context-aware algorithm, which will let a Windows Phone user set up a reminder based on a certain type of command that uses various elements, including location and/or the user’s relationship with a person.
Interestingly, while Google’s Google Now assistant can offer plenty of context-aware actions and automated responses, Microsoft chose to take hits only at Siri in this new commercial, and, indirectly at the iPhone 5s, a hot-seller despite being an “old” device.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft is making fun of Siri with Cortana, as the company released several Cortana-related videos in the past, including ones that took hits at the competition.
The short 30-second ad showing Cortana outperforming Siri follows below.
