Harman Kardon Cortana Speaker Certified: Will It Compete With Amazon Echo And Google Home?

After smartwatches and VR headsets, voice assistant-based speakers are a new category of smart devices that technology companies are investing in. The Google Assistant-based Home speaker and Amazon Alexa-based Echo speaker are already selling in the market and it seems Microsoft might be the newest player to join their ranks. Harman Kardon, a company specializing in speakers, has become the first to get Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant since the Cortana SDK was opened up to developers in December. Harman had released a 30-second teaser in December 2016 showcasing a smart speaker with an LED-based display at the top. On Tuesday, the speaker got certified by Wi-Fi Alliance, an organization that monitors Wi-Fi operability.