In a blog post long on words but short on specifics, wireless speaker firm Sonos has announced that it will be increasingly focusing on support for streaming music services – but also moving into voice control. CEO John Macfarlane says that in the immediate term, the company will need to layoff employees as part of its refocusing plans.
Macfarlane hints at a possible collaboration with Amazon, using Alexa, the company’s competitor to Siri.
We’re fans of what Amazon has done with Alexa and the Echo product line. Voice recognition isn’t new; today it’s nearly ubiquitous with Siri, OK Google, and Cortana. But the Echo found a sweet spot in the home and will impact how we navigate music, weather, and many, many other things as developers bring new ideas and more content to the Alexa platform …
The post is hard to parse, the above suggesting that the company’s ambitions for voice control may extend beyond music, while another paragraph very much hones in on music.
Our mission is to fill every home with music. I start every day by asking myself how we can do that better, and how we can serve our music lovers better now and over the long haul.
It’s possible that the company could add support for voice control to its existing Play 5 speakers (of which we are fans) through a firmware update: As we noted in September, the speaker has two microphones not currently used:
Behind that grill you’ll find three tweets and three woofers plus two mics (which aren’t being used yet but future proof the current hardware).
If Sonos does indeed opt for Alexa, it would be something of a snub to Apple, which recently partnered with Sonos for a TV ad featuring Sonos speakers and Apple Music. It’s only a month since Sonos started officially supporting Apple Music.
The post doesn’t reveal the likely scale of the layoffs, but does suggest that one reason for them is the increasing competition the company has faced from cheaper, Bluetooth speakers.
We chose to develop our products with WiFi instead of Bluetooth, which was far more challenging for our engineers but superior for our owners. These are all choices we stand by today. While often difficult in the moment, they ultimately serve Sonos, our partners and our customers well in the long run.
We’ll be watching with interest.
If you’re a fan of wireless speaker setups but don’t want to venture into Sonos pricing, check out a couple of how-to guides by myself and Chance.
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If/when Apple releases Siri API for third parties I would love to see Sonos jump on board so I could say, “Hey Siri, play Beats 1 on my Sonos speaker in the kitchen”… still would rely on the phone, though. From all accounts, the always-on, always-powered speaker/mic combo in in Alexa seems to be very well received by its owners so if Sonos just puts it into the speakers that would be ok as well.
Voice control aside, many of us would be happy if Sonos added Airplay capacity to its current speakers.
Indeed, but sadly I can’t see that ever happening. I generally dislike products that force me to use their own app, but I must say the Sonos iOS app is extremely good.
Agree on all points, BUT I’d be fine if it made me select “Airplay” as the current ‘station’ for the speaker… I do have https://github.com/stephen/airsonos working pretty well, though…
Apple should just buy Sonos, GoPro, Yahoo!, HERE Maps & Yelp
If a pending deal with Amazon is true, I’m even more glad that I recently sold off my Sonos speakers. I know a lot of people swear by them, but I found them to be much to expensive for the average sound quality they deliver in addition to being forced to use their app which didn’t support Apple music for some time and required a premium Spotify or Amazon account. I prefer an ATV4 and a sound bar on each of my TVs for when I’m playing music.
The Echo is pretty great. Right now it sits right next to my Play:5. My poor kids get so confused when they can’t change the song becasue they ask Alexa and nothing happens.
I just jumped on the Sonos bandwagon, putting a few 1’s, a 3 and a PLAYBAR around the house. There may be better sounding systems with better software out there, but I’m very happy with what I’ve got, and was already a Spotify & Sirius subscriber. We also have an Echo and love it. My only concern is that Sonos will try to compete in an area they don’t need to – when smaller companies do this, they almost never succeed, because they lose focus on what they do best and what sets them apart in the marketplace. Amazon, Google and Apple can do this because they are awash with cash, but if Sonos needs to lay off people to move forward, this does not bode well for them IMO.
I’ve been pretty happy with AirPlay. It would be nice if Apple would release a more portable option, though. I have Apple TVs and Airport Express units hooked up to various speakers throughout my house, but that doesn’t work as well when I want to bring my music outside.
When they mention that the Play:5 has microphones, does that mean ALL Play:5s or just the current generation?
Is there more than one generation? It’s not something I’ve looked into, but it’s a relatively new product.
The current Play:5 is the second generation of the device. It was released this past Fall.
If Sonos goes with Alexa instead of Siri I’m returning my speakers. I would be highly disappointed.
Internet of Things is mostly useless.