We were able to take a look at the new Cortana speaker activation a few days ago, but now we've uncovered the new Cortana Device Setup tool, first spotted by MSPU.
The wizard references the Harman Kardon speaker we've covered previously, and gives us a glimpse at the capabilities of this upcoming device.
While it seems that the Cortana speaker features will be available to any enterprising hardware manufacturer, at the moment, the setup app only references Harman Kardon's own speaker, which is set for launch somewhere in 2017.
The wizard details permissions the device will ask for, including your personal information, access to the Windows notification system, and also Skype. It does seem as though you will be able to make calls from this device, which could prove incredibly useful. It will also integrate with other devices and apps, such as iHeartRadio, leveraging the Cortana Devices SDK announced back in December, 2016.
We don't know much about the Harman Kardon speaker, dubbed the 'Invoke,' besides its Cortana capabilities. When it comes to hardware capabilities, it's easy to speculate on things such as Bluetooth, an IR Blaster like the one found in the Xbox One S, and perhaps even support for 7.1 sound set ups. Harman Kardon produces a range of dazzling, near-futuristic sound setups, including this sci-fi transparent 3-piece speaker system, and an array of premium wireless Bluetooth speakers. So hopefully, the Invoke will follow the same attractive design sensibilities.
Harman Kardon is highly regarded in the audio field, but it remains to be seen whether Cortana herself can live up to Amazon's Alexa, who's shopping assistant powers has helped her carve a niche in the growing voice assistant market.
Keep it locked to Windows Central for more on this emerging technology, and let us know whether you'd consider picking up a Cortana speaker in the comments. I wonder if Microsoft has plans to solve the issue of Cortana simultaneously responding on my Lumia, PC, and Xbox...
