Lenovo Shutting Down It’s Cortana-based REACHit Service

Cortana for Windows 10 left the gate in a blazing fury of hope as a mass accepted AI, but like all great Microsoft inventions, Cortana is starting to be pushed aside by advances from competitors. Amazon has made great strides with its Alexa service and hardware more recently and Google and Apple aren’t too far behind.

Cortana is a Windows 10 for PCs staple. The latest update, the Anniversary update for Windows 10, even adds a new Cortana feature that allows users to interact with the ever-listening AI over the lock screen. This effectively inserts Cortana into every business and every household as an instant competitor to Alexa’s hardware. But, the Cortana’s weakness happens to be mobile. Though Cortana works well on Android and iOS now, Windows 10 Mobile is just an afterthought. Microsoft Band owners who also are still clinging to the Windows 10 Mobile platform are constantly complaining about Cortana’s lack of stability. For Cortana to assume leadership in the AI space, Microsoft needs partners willing to expand Cortana’s capabilities, particularly when it comes to mobile and non-PC hardware.

Last year, Lenovo made a big deal about providing enhanced Cortana capabilities on its self-manufactured PCs. Called REACHit, the service would provide PC-based enhancements for local and cloud-based file systems using Cortana. In February of this year, the company opened up REACHit to non-Lenovo hardware, and just in May the service released officially from BETA.

Today, the company has started notifying REACHit users that it will be shutting down the service in less than a month.

As of August 31st, 2016, the application will no longer be available for use and Lenovo recommends uninstalling it.

The following sunsetting email is being delivered today…

When we introduced REACHit, we wanted to give people the convenience of accessing all of their files from one place – regardless of where the files were located.  We hope you’ve enjoyed using the app, however, we now have new priorities on Smart Devices, and as a result, we will be withdrawing REACHit.

Therefore, on September 12th we’ll be shutting down REACHit.  Rest assured that all of your files are safe and will remain unchanged, since we don’t store any of your content.

For more information, please review the FAQs on our web site getreachit.com.

Thank you for using REACHit – we appreciate your feedback and support!  Stay tuned – we think you’ll like what will be coming from Lenovo Software Solutions in the future.

The Lenovo Software Solutions / REACHit Team

It will be interesting to hear what Lenovo’s new direction for Smart Devices will be. The AI industry is heating up and it’s possible that as Microsoft loses this partnership someone else is gaining one. Alexa?