Harman Kardon's Cortana-Powered 'Invoke' Speaker Revealed on Company Site

Last year, Microsoft announced the Cortana SDK and Harman Kardon teased its first Cortana-powered speaker would be launched this year. Now, Harman Kardon has revealed the Invoke speaker. While the speaker website was initially made available for everyone to see, it seems like Harman Kardon has now pulled down the "coming soon" page for the Amazon Echo's rival product from its website.

While the Invoke speaker is set to be released by Harman Kardon in fall this year, around same time as Redstone 3, the pricing and the exact release date has not been revealed as of now, as pointed out in a report by Thurrott.com. The Invoke speakers offer 360-degree sound, ability to make and receive calls via Skype, and other functionalities offered by Cortana that one might expect. Based on the images shared on the pre-release page, the speakers are expected to be made available in Silver and Black colour variants.

In terms of design, the Invoke speakers come in a cylindrical shape and have a circular ring at the top. The Redmond-based company is expected to share more information about the speakers at its Build conference that will start from Wednesday. Microsoft shared last year that the Cortana Devices SDK was then in private preview and would be made available more broadly in 2017.

As we mentioned in our earlier report, Microsoft is not the first tech company to open out its voice assistant technology to third-party developers, with Amazon, Apple, and Google each releasing tools for Alexa, Siri, and Assistant respectively.