Updated October 5, 2017: Another listing was spotted by WalkingCat on Twitter, this time on the Microsoft Store with a price tag of $199.95. This could simply be a placeholder, but it would position the Invoke firmly above Amazon's flagship Echo Plus by $50 if accurate. The listing has since been pulled, but it also briefly showed a potential release date of October 22.
Original article follows:
Harman Kardon first showed off its Cortana-powered Invoke speaker in May, but details — including price — have been few and far between since. However, we can possibly put at least one mystery to rest thanks to a price listing on Microsoft's Xbox Live Rewards page, of all places.
Listed on the MyVIP Bling section{.nofollow} of the Xbox Live Rewards site is a lineup of items that you can earn with MyVIP Gems. Along with each item's gem count, Microsoft also lists each item's approximate retail value (ARV). Curiously, the Harman Kardon Invoke was already listed under the 5,000 gems category along with an ARV of $150.
Aside from a release date, pricing is one of the key details that remains to be officially confirmed. If the $150 figure is accurate, that would position the Harman Kardon Invoke in direct competition with Amazon's $150 Echo Plus, and $50 higher than the new Echo. It's also just slightly higher than the Google Home at $129.
The smart speaker market is rapidly expanding, with each of the major tech giants now going all in. Amazon recently drastically expanded its Echo lineup, and Google has expanded its Google Home lineup as well. Even Apple is getting in on the game with its upcoming $349 HomePod. Though a release date is still an unknown, Microsoft and Harman Kardon certainly will be entering an already crowded market, and it will be interesting to see if Cortana can break through the noise. Of course, a partnership with Amazon to integrate Cortana and Alexa certainly won't hurt.
Updated October 4, 2017: Microsoft has now removed the pricing information from its Xbox Live rewards page, but you can still catch it in the screenshot above.
Thanks to Jetface for the tip!
