Microsoft has joined the smart speaker market with a new device from Harman Kardon running the software giant's Cortana digital assistant. The Harman Kardon Invoke with Cortana launches 22 October at Microsoft stores, Best Buy and online at HarmanKardon.com. It will be available in a choice of white or black for a recommended retail price of USD 199.95.
Harman Kardon said in May already that it was working on the speaker with Microsoft. While rivals Google and Amazon have already been putting their voice-controlled digital assistants in a range of third-party devices, Microsoft has been slower to partner with other companies on Cortana.
Cortana on the new speaker will look up information for users with Microsoft's search engine Bing and also integrate with Skype so the speaker can be used to make VoIP calls. In addition to free Skype-to-Skype calling, Invoke offers unlimited free outbound calling from the US to mobile phones and landlines in the US, Canada and Mexico.
The speaker will also allow users to control smart home devices from other manufacturers, including those from Samsung SmartThings, Nest, Philips Hue, Wink and Insteon. Streaming music services supported at launch include Spotify Premium, iHeartRadio and TuneIn, and Harman said it was also working with Pandora to add their service in the near future.
