Luxury speaker manufacturer Harman Kardon has announced details of its voice-activated home speaker featuring Microsoft's virtual personal assistant (VPA), Cortana.
The speaker, called Invoke, is similar to Amazon's Echo and Google Home. The connected speaker listens for commands, such as "Cortana, switch off all the inside lights," or "Cortana, what is the weather like in Johannesburg today?"
The VPA then either searches the Web (using Microsoft Bing in Invoke's case) to answer the question, or performs the task via connected home devices.
Other uses include playing music, managing calendars and activities, setting reminders, checking traffic, and delivering the latest news.
Invoke will also have Microsoft's Skype integrated into it, so users can make calls to cellphones, landlines and other Skype-enabled devices. This is not available on Google Home or the Amazon Echo.
This device is currently only available in the US.
Cortana is already used by more than 145 million people through a Windows 10 PC, or on a mobile device.
"We are excited to partner with Harman Kardon to create a speaker that combines premium audio and stylish design with the intelligence of Cortana," says Jordi Ribas, CVP of AI products at Microsoft.
"This is our next step in bringing Cortana to even more devices to help users be more productive wherever they are."
Apple wants in
It is rumoured that Apple is working on its own Siri-enabled smart speaker, due for release later this year.
The iPhone manufacturer released a HomeKit app last year that would control and manage any amount of smart home devices from one place. This was seen as the company's first step towards creating its own speaker with its own VPA, Siri, integrated into it.
MacWorld reported in April the speaker could feature Beats technology for music playback, and may run a modified version of iOS. It will also reportedly feature Apple's Airplay, which lets users wirelessly transfer files between Apple devices.
Its release is said to be scheduled to coincide with the launch of the next iPhone in September.
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