The first ever Cortana-powered smart speaker is going on sale this Sunday. Microsoft and Harman Kardon are launching the new Invoke speaker in the United States with lots of features and premium audio for $199. Invoke supports voice calls via Skype, and the smart speaker also supports Spotify, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn’s music services.
For a speaker from Harman Kardon premium sound may actually be the killer feature, however — and Microsoft is working closely with other services to bring more music streaming options to the device. The company specifically said it’s working closely with Pandora to bring the music service to Cortana speakers. There isn’t any word on availability yet, so you’ll simply have to wait until there’s an official announcement on when exactly the support for Pandora is coming.
In addition to Pandora, Microsoft says it is planning to work with other partners such as SoundCloud and Deezer to bring their respective music streaming services to Cortana speakers. No word on availability there, either.