Isn't it every mans dream to have a girlfriend that cheers along for your favourite football team?
Well, have you met Cortana?
The match between Germany and Argentina was no doubt the ultimate climax to the 2014 World Cup, which was held at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã Stadium. It was not just any World Cup final - it was a rematch of the 1990 contest for the World Cup title.
Cortana, Microsoft’s virtual assistant, predicted an Argentina vs. Germany World Cup final. And it has also been predicting a German victory.
Paul the Octopus might have been at the center of attention during the World Cup in 2010, but Microsoft’s Cortana has proven to be a worthy digital replacement.
For the record, prior to the World Cup 2014 final, Cortana correctly predicted that Germany would beat Brazil while Argentina would beat the Netherlands in the semi-finals. It was reported that Cortana has accurately picked 14 winners in a row in every game of the World Cup's knockout stage.
This makes Cortana the most accurate predictor of the knockout stages; its predictions have been impeccable for every match of the final stage of the World Cup 2014.
It is a big win for Microsoft, if you ask me.
For the technology company, what is a better opportunity to tap into if not the World Cup? It was a chance to showcase the product (the capability of Bing and Cortana) that is made possible through all the hard work and commitment that the Microsoft team has put in.
On the eve of the rollout of Windows Phone 8.1 update, this predictive capability of Cortana (which has its intelligence and insights powered by Bing search engine) really did move me to finally considering Windows Phone as my next smart device.
To those who have not been following the latest development of Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8.1 is going to be the latest major update for Microsoft’s mobile operating system, since the debut of Windows Phone 8.0 that was released in October 2012.
Who is Cortana?
Cortana is the codename for Microsoft’s intelligent virtual assistant for Windows Phone 8.1 and beyond.
Cortana predicted Germany’s victory in World Cup 2014.
The name ‘Cortana’ originates from a fictional character - an artificial intelligent (A.I.) in the Halo video game franchise.
With the competition Siri and Google Now already years ahead, Cortana arrives at a time when Microsoft is catching up in mobile.
So how did Cortana get its predictions?
Like Siri and Google Now, Cortana would not have been as fascinating without the backend support. The virtual assistant relies on Bing’s backend services for the majority of its features.
To improve consumers’ experience with Microsoft’s Bing search engine is a continuous effort. Citing an article on Quartz, according to Craig Beilinson, Microsoft’s director of consumer communications, apart from offering relevant searches, they have been working on developing Bing as a tool that provides additional information that will keep consumers interested and keep them coming back for the service.
The team at Microsoft started out making predictions for reality TV shows where people gets to vote including The Voice, American Idol, and Dancing With the Stars, using search data and analysis of social sentiment from data partnerships with Facebook and Twitter.
Generated using an algorithm with the name “Bing Predicts”, on June 11, 2014, Microsoft launched World Cup predictions to test its predictive abilities with an even larger and passionate fan base.
According to the official Bing blog, the search engine evaluates the strength of each team members including team’s record in qualification matches and international competitions, the margin of victory in past matches, a team’s home field advantage and the influence of other external factors including weather and type of playing surface.
One can say that the collaboration between Cortana and Bing has made Microsoft proud.
Would you buy Windows Phone for Cortana?
According to several online tech blogs, a global rollout of Windows Phone 8.1 update is expected to start within the coming weeks and will be completed in 2015, which means that Windows Phone users will have their very own Cortana to predict the 2018 World Cup Russia results.
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