Microsoft reveals the first Cortana-powered Amazon Echo competitor

In a world of artificial intelligence; the race to the voice user interface is occurring in our homes.

With Apple rumored to be building an Amazon Echo competitor with a screen; Microsoft is ready to roll-out its Google Home competitor as well.

Let's "Invoke" AI Already

Coming in the Fall of 2017; this will be a sleek Cortana powered device; Harman Kardon announced called "Invoke":

Here we go; hands-free skype calls and more:

CAPTIVATING SOUND MEETS YOUR PERSONAL ASSISTANT.

At the heart of Invoke is Cortana, your personal digital assistant, helping you stay on top of what’s important. Enhance every moment with captivating sound, voice control your music and smart home, make and receive hands-free calls with Skype, get answers to your questions, and more*.

The Consumer Devices of the Future?

It seems as if the cylindrical smart speaker is the new consumer device; to test the waters of artificial intelligence that showcases new advances in speech recognition and human-centric design of personal assistants.

As popular as Amazon Echo and Google Home have been; is there a market for Apple and Microsoft as well?

Invoke brings together Harman Kardon's audio heritage with Cortana by Microsoft, resulting in a beautifully designed speaker for the home.

Its success will depend upon how much more than a smart speaker it is. Will it integrate with LinkedIn for the job hunting consumer? Will it have Alexa like utility and helpfulness with regards to integrations to real-life services or enterprise Microsoft products?

I'm very curious what precisely "get things done with Cortana" means; as the bar has been set high with Amazon Echo "skills" and Google Home's pervasive connection to our calendar, data and real life.

Invoke Could Change the way We Communicate

• It will support functions around music, calendars, reminders, traffic, and news
• It sure looks a lot like the Echo, if a bit sleeker. It's a bit more metallic if you like that modern look.
• The Invoke is also able to control your IoT devices
• Skype integration is very promising for easier communications
• For the price, we might have to wait until the Fall of 2017.
•  The ability to ask Cortana questions will be the true test of its competitiveness and show if Cortana has been able to keep up.
• Microsoft is expected to reveal more about Cortana and third-party apps and services at its Build developers conference later this week.

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Do you own a smart speaker? Will these devices become common place in hotels and work offices and how can Invoke enter the enterprise voice user interface space?