Microsoft once imagined a future full of refrigerators, toasters and thermostats powered by Cortana, but it never worked. Harman Kardon’s Invoke speaker was the first and only speaker with Cortana to hit the market, but is now getting an update on Wednesday to disable Microsoft’s digital assistant.
Harman Kardon will send an update to the Invoke speaker tomorrow (seen by Thurrott) to remove Cortana, after Microsoft announced its plans last year to shut down its digital assistant on multiple devices. “Note that the Cortana service at Harman Kardon Invoke will end in the next few months, regardless of whether you receive the update,” says Harman Kardon. Cortana is also disappearing on iOS and Android, and even on Microsoft’s own Surface Headphones.
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Microsoft originally had bigger plans for Cortana in 2016. The software maker outlined a vision for taking its digital assistant to refrigerators, toasters and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices, but Cortana never really caught on. Even the beautiful GLAS thermostat with Cortana technology is no longer powered by Microsoft’s digital assistant.
Microsoft now sees Cortana’s value in conversational AI and the company is trying to reposition Cortana as a skill that can be performed anywhere, instead of competing with Alexa or Google Assistant. Cortana is increasingly being used to improve Microsoft’s company-focused offerings after the company separated it from Windows 10 research and silenced the digital assistant during the operating system setup process.