Microsoft's version of the Amazon Echo will be a Cortana-powered speaker

Microsoft will soon bring its digital assistant to a lot more places. The company is opening up Cortana to third-party hardware companies so they can integrate it into hardware devices like speakers, cars and home appliances. The first of these will be a Cortana-enabled speaker made by Harman Kardon with a planned February 2017 launch, the tech giant announced at an event in San Francisco on Tuesday. SEE ALSO: Microsoft made speech recognition software that's as accurate as humans Microsoft revealed few details about the upcoming speaker, but the Amazon Echo-like device is voice activated and will work with third-party services, Microsoft says. The Cortana integration is possible thanks to Microsoft's new Cortana Devices Software Development Kit (SDK), which will allow hardware companies to embed Cortana into everything from cars to home appliances.