Microsoft once proposed a future with Cortana – powered refrigerators, toasters and thermostats, but it never worked out. Harman Kardon’s Invoke speaker was the first and only Cortana speaker to hit the market, but it received an update on Wednesday to eliminate Microsoft’s digital assistant.
Harman Kardon will direct an update to the Invoke speaker tomorrow (seen by Thurrott) to remove Cortana, after Microsoft announced last year plans to shut down its digital assistant on multiple devices. “Note that the Cortana service on the Harman Kardon Invoke will end in the coming months, regardless of whether you receive the update,” says Harman Kardon. Cortana is also disappearing on iOS and Android, and even Microsoft’s own Surface headphones.
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Microsoft originally had bigger plans for Cortana in 2016. The software maker outlined a vision to bring its digital assistant to refrigerators, toasters and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices, but Cortana never really succeeded. Even the beautiful GLASS thermostat powered by Cortana is no longer powered by Microsoft’s digital assistant.
Microsoft now sees the value of Cortana in conversation partners and the company is trying to reposition Cortana as a skill that can run anywhere instead of competing with Alexa or Google Assistant. Cortana is increasingly being used to improve Microsoft’s enterprise-oriented offerings, after the company separated it from Windows 10 search and silenced the digital assistant during the OS setup process.