Microsoft throws down gauntlet on personal assistants by pitting Cortana against Siri

While Apple put the mobile personal assistant in the mainstream four years ago with Siri, the competition is now gunning for the top spot. Microsoft, whose Cortana personal assistant is powered by Bing, ships with Windows Phone 8.1 and apparently has a wider breadth of contextual search features.

Microsoft's resorting to 'comparison' ads by showcasing features available to Cortana that Siri doesn't have or can't do. What's weird is that we have an entry level Lumia being pitted against a more expensive iPhone 5s. Should be interesting to see where all this is headed once iOS 8 is released and Siri's new functions are finally revealed.