Microsoft to rival Amazon and Google with smart speaker Invoke, releasing on Oct 22

Microsoft is all set to challenge Amazon and Google with the company's first ever AI powered speaker- Invoke. Backed by Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana, the smart speaker is developed in partnership with audio veteran Harman kardon and will finally release on October 22, 2017.

Microsoft Invoke will be available in-store and online at Microsoft Store, Best Buy, and online at HarmanKardon.com. Invoke in two color options, Pearl Silver (White) and Graphite (Black) at $199.95 USD, which roughly translates to Rs. 13,000 in Indian currency.

As per Windows blog, Invoke smart speaker is crafted from premium materials and delivers powerful 360-degree sound from three direct-radiating woofers, three direct-radiating tweeters and two passive radiators. Invoke also features Harman's Sonique far-field voice recognition technology with seven-microphones, ensuring that Cortana can hear you from any direction. Music services available at launch include Spotify Premium, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and we are working with Pandora to add their service in the near future.

At the heart of Invoke is Cortana, Microsoft's personal digital assistant, which will address your voice commands to execute work and home tasks. With Cortana now available on a speaker, the virtual assistant will largely offer its services on Windows 10 PC, Android and iOS and Skype on Xbox.

With Cortana on Invoke, you would be able to voice control music, as well as get answers to questions and connect to your Office 365 information. Invoke utilizes Microsoft's speech recognition technology for commands and music controls, and integrates Office 365 productivity services so you can do things like, manage your schedule, check your calendar, set reminders, and more.

Here's a list of actions that Microsoft Invoke speaker can perform

With Cortana's intelligence on Invoke, supported by the Bing knowledge graph, you can also hear the latest news and tweets, and get answers to questions.

With Skype on Invoke, you can easily stay connected with hands-free calling to your Skype and phone contacts, as well as local businesses.

Invoke will also offer unlimited free outbound calling from the United States to mobile phones and landlines in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

Invoke will let you control your smart home devices, including those from SmartThings, Nest, Philips Hue, Wink, and Insteon.