Samsung-owned Harman Kardon has introduced its first smart speaker with Amazon Alexa voice-assistant in India. The new Harman Kardon Allure carries a price-tag of INR 22,499 and is now available via invitation from Amazon India.

It is not the first Alexa-powered smart speaker to be released in India. Amazon had earlier launched the Echo lineup in the country in October this year, followed by a quiet roll-out of Eufy Genie AK-T1241211 Smart Speaker. In total, there are now five officially available Alexa-powered smart speakers in the Indian market.

Coming back to Allure, this smart speaker was originally unveiled at the IFA trade fair this year. Apart from being a good wireless speaker, it can also pretty much do everything that Echo devices can do, except Echo to Echo calling. The Harman Kardon Allure comes with 360-degree sound and built-in subwoofer. It also packs built-in 4-microphone array with advanced noise cancellation technology.

“We’re excited to launch this much sought-after product in India. Ever since its launch at IFA in August – we have seen tremendous interest and demand for the Harman Kardon Allure from our Indian customers,” said Sumit Chauhan, Vice President – Lifestyle Audio Division at Harman India, in a statement.

At this point, there are no direct competitors for the Allure in India, but it won’t last very long as boAt, Riva Audio, BPL and Onkyo are getting ready to enter the smart speaker market in the country next year. All these manufacturers will be launching their Alexa-powered models.

Harman Kardon Allure specifications

• 360-degree omni-directional sound
• Built-in subwoofer
• Far-field voice recognition
• Up to 24-bit/96kHz HD audio streaming
• Bluetooth wireless music streaming
• Designed to control IoT devices
• Transducers: 1.5″ x 3
• Sub-woofer: 3.5″
• Dimension (W x D x H): 6.6″ x 6.6″ x 7.7″