Microsoft Expected To Unveil Its Smart Home Assistant This Week

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN's dominance in the home assistant market with its Echo device will be challenged by a newcomer. Microsoft Corporation MSFT announced Monday its new home assistant product called Invoke will join Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL's Home device in giving Echo a run for its money.

Microsoft teamed up with Harman Kardon to give Invoke the ability to play music, check traffic, listen to the latest news reports, control smart home thermostats, set calendar appointments and much more. Microsoft's new product brings to life its voice assistant called Cortana, which exists just on mobile devices and Windows operating system.

Main Advantage And Disadvantage

According to a CNBC report, Invoke has one notable feature that could make it stand out against competing products. The device will come equipped with Skype, which will allow users to not only chat with other Skype users but can call any cell phone. Even Google's Home can't match this feature with its Skype-like service.

On the other hand, the CNBC report noted that Microsoft could fall short in another area. The company needs support from developers if it wants the device to be able to match the thousands of "skills" that Alexa and Home boast, such as streaming music, asking questions, etc.

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