Microsoft Cortana Aims To Outsmart Siri In New Lumia 635 Ad

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is taking aim at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a new ad featuring its Cortana voice assistant.

Cortana, the personal voice assistant developed by Microsoft for its line of Windows Phones, was featured in a new ad released on Sunday, titled “Happy Anniversary," which was aimed at highlighting Cortana's capability to do more than Apple iPhone’s Siri personal voice assistant. A Lumia 635 is seen alongside an iPhone 5S, with an unseen user asking Cortana to set up various reminders about an anniversary, from reminders when his wife calls to location-based reminders to pick up roses. Cortana quickly replies, while Siri is left unable to perform the same tasks.

With Siri appearing seemingly helpless, the Microsoft Lumia 635 is left shining in the new Cortana ad. This is the first time Microsoft has pitted Cortana head-to-head against Siri. But it isn’t the first time Microsoft has used snarky commercials featuring Apple devices to demonstrate the purported superiority of its own products.

Last year, Microsoft released a similar ad also featuring Siri’s voice to poke fun at the features that the Apple iPad couldn’t do compared to a tablet running Windows 8.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s (KRX:005930) Samsung Mobile has also featured Apple devices in similar ads in February, poking fun at the iPhone 5S and iPad Air while promoting its own devices such as the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1.

Microsoft has continued to promote its Windows Phones in recent weeks amid ongoing restructuring at the Redmond, Washington, tech giant, which includes eliminating hundreds of jobs following its acquisition of Nokia’s mobile division in 2013.