Harman Kardon’s Invoke Cortana powered smart speaker is set to arrive late October and cost $150/£114, which means the Amazon Echo And Google Home line-up could be facing more competition.
The pricing and release date appears to have been accidentally revealed by Microsoft on its MyVIP Bling section of the Xbox Live Rewards page, as spotted by Windows Central. Microsoft has now removed the Invoke from the section indicating that it had rather prematurely revealed details of the smart speaker it still wants to keep under wraps.
The $150 price tag is the approximate value Microsoft has given the Invoke relating to the 5,000 gems needed for Xbox Live users to claim the speaker as a reward.
At around $150, the Invoke would be in direct competition with the Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers, powered by Alexa and the Google Assistant respectively. Apple is also set to get in on the smart speaker action, with the HomePod, which uses Siri to handle its smart capabilities.
There’s and argument that Harman Kardon and Microsoft with the Invoke and Apple with the HomePod may be arriving a little late to the game, as Amazon has got its Echo devices, which include the original Echo, Echo Dot, and upcoming Echo Show and Echo Spot, with Alexa which has had a good bit of time to mature and have developers create smart apps and service integrations for the virtual assistant.
Google is also building out its Home portfolio, with the Google Home Mini and a larger, powerful speaker in the form of the Google Home Max. So the Invoke will need to be both smart and a solid speaker if it wants to make an impression amid the competition.
Related: Google Home vs Amazon Echo
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
