A Cortana-powered Harman Kardon speaker is coming in 2017

It looks like Amazon Echo and Google Home won't be the only smart speakers in town for long. Microsoft has released a teaser video that shows off an upcoming Harman Kardon premium speaker with digital smarts powered by Cortana. While there isn't much more info, you can check out the video below for a quick peek at what's coming.

The speaker isn't due until 2017, but the presence of voice-activated Cortana smarts indicates it'll be quite similar to Amazon Echo's Alexa. The teaser only shows Cortana being asked to play music and create a reminder, but it's not hard to imagine that you'll be able to do many of the things Cortana can already do on PC and Mobile, such as conduct quick searches or create lists.

A firm release date is, of course, unknown right now. However, it wouldn't be too surprising if we were to hear much more during CES, which is right around the corner in January. And it looks like we should expect Cortana to start popping up in a number of other places as well, as Harman Kardon is just one partner in the the launch of the Cortana Devices SDK that opens up the assistant's smarts to devices of all kinds.

Thanks, Attila B., for the tip!