Alexa to make its way onto Windows PCs. But what about Cortana?

Dive Brief:

Amazon's Alexa is coming to the HP Pavilion Wave, a PC that runs Windows 10, according to an HP announcement. Alexa on PCs, in addition to its traditional audio-based assistance, will enable visual directions from the user. Windows 10 already has Microsoft's virtual assistant, Cortana, programmed into the system.
Alexa will be available for various Acer notebooks through an update by the end of Q1 2018, according to the company. The update will allow users to have Alexa check schedules, make lists, answer questions, send messages and remotely control other smart devices such as light switches. Alexa is also expected to come to Asus and Lenovo devices, reports VentureBeat.
Amazon and Microsoft formerly announced a partnership to allow Alexa and Cortana to speak with one another. However, adding Alexa to Windows devices is unrelated to the partnership, according to an Amazon spokesperson, reports VentureBeat. Both companies failed to meet their deadline for collaboration at the end of 2017.

Dive Insight:

The virtual assistant market is set to reach $11.9 billion by 2024, according to a report by Esticast Research and Consulting. It's understood that installing intelligent devices is the next part of digital transformation.

Digital assistants are dominating the consumer market, and companies are pushing their assistant into the enterprise. Microsoft's Cortana was integrated on its software, but Amazon's entryway was not as clear cut.

Alexa's move to the enterprise was long awaited, and its integration in established cloud-based technologies gives Amazon an edge it didn't have before. The e-commerce giant is trying to become the dominant technology in use. For example, Amazon said in October that Alexa would eventually replace smartphones for businesses.

Unlike Amazon's competitors, including Apple and its virtual assistant Siri, Amazon's Echo didn't have much of a place outside consumer tech. However, Alexa's number of skills far outpaces that of its counterparts, Google Home and even Cortana.

Despite Microsoft's ability to integrate Cortana into its software, the virtual assistant simply did not see the same success as Alexa. This may be in part due to Microsoft's absence in the mobile market. Microsoft recently announced it was not going to put Cortana on its Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM platforms, according to a company announcement.