Move over, Amazon Echo & Google Home: Here comes Microsoft Cortana

By Danny Sullivan

Published: December 13, 2016 at 7:23 pm

Harman Kardon Cortana

Can’t decide which voice-activated home assistant you want, Amazon Echo or Google Home? Next year, you’ll have a third choice — Microsoft’s Cortana.

Unlike Amazon and Google, Microsoft isn’t making a Cortana device itself. Rather, today it announced a way for anyone to integrate its Cortana agent into devices, through the Cortana Devices SDK.

That’s apparently going to be used by Harman Kardon to make a speaker with Cortana smarts to be released next year. Microsoft shared the news in a blog post today, along with a short teaser video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bikRuaJAv5g

No pricing, exact release date or even a name has been announced. Presumably, other manufacturers could also come out with their own Cortana devices — and it’s a fair bet that Microsoft will likely make its own, too.

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About the author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land and MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.