Microsoft Expects The Invoke Speaker To Boost Cortana S Popularity

Microsoft teamed up with Harman Kardon to build the Invoke, the first Cortana-powered smart speaker currently on sale for $199. The company also announced that Cortana now has 148 million monthly active users.

Microsoft expecting Invoke to accelerate Cortana growth

Last December, Microsoft stated that Cortana was being used by approximately 145 million users across Windows 10, iOS, Android and the Xbox One, meaning that the service only grew 2% over the last ten months — not much. Microsoft is expecting the Invoke speaker to accelerate Cortana’s growth and add to its “momentum.”

Cortana is currently available on more than 500 million Windows 10 PCs. With that kind of install base, the company believes Cortana has “strong momentum” and it’s expecting the Invoke to accelerate this even more.

Microsoft is now relying on its OEM partners to build smart devices powered by Cortana in the near future, but the company is not really saying much about plans for its own branded smart device powered by the AI.

Uncertainty around Cortana’s growth

Cortana’s growth is not bad, considering the virtual assistant is only available in thirteen countries around the world. Even if Microsoft has done a great job at bringing Cortana to more regions, the company says it will continue to work even harder to bring it to more customers in the future.

Unfortunately, we can’t know for sure if Cortana’s growth is terrible or impressive since most of Microsoft’s competitors don’t reveal the usage stats of their own virtual assistants and third party analytic reports are not that accurate.

Microsoft expecting Invoke to accelerate Cortana growth#

Microsoft expecting Invoke to accelerate Cortana growth