Microsoft announced today that Cortana, the key feature of Windows Phone 8.1, is now available in preview form to users in France, Germany, Italy and Spain



From Supersite for Windows:

Microsoft first made a beta version of Cortana digital assistant available as part of Windows Phone 8.1 in the United States only: That release was finalized in April 2014, but didn't really ship to users until much later in the year (and, depending on your wireless carrier—cough, Verizon—not at all in some cases, yet). It added beta Cortana support for China and the UK in the Update 1 release in July, and to Canada, India, and Australia in "alpha" form.

So this week's release to the biggest smart phone markets in Western Europe is of course a big deal, and not just because of their overall size, but because these are also coincidentally markets in which Windows Phone performs quite well.

  Cortana Heads to France, Germany, Italy and Spain