Microsoft Reveals Their Cortana Powered Echo Competitor

And it looks a bit like the Echo, if we’re honest.

The new speaker made by Microsoft and, audio maker, Harmon Kardon, is called the Invoke and it does what you expect. It can use Cortana, Microsoft’s virtual assistant, to control IoT devices, play music, etc but, of course, with syncing with your Microsoft account/PC.

The device does have the specs to play better audio than the Google Home or Echo with more speakers and that Harmon Kardon name attached to it. But it can also, use Skype to make and receive calls, which is a neat differentiator (since here in the US at least you can use that to make calls to real phone numbers for free).

You can check out the full specs and press release at the source link below. What do you guys think of it? Any been waiting for a Cortana version or do you all have Echo/Homes already? Also, now it seems like Apple is the only big player left without one of these standalone speaker assistants, wonder if that’s coming soon…