Sonos Alexa Integration India

Todays update: I think I ruffled some feathers in Sonos because a more senior team lead has taken over the communications to me after apologising for the assurance I was given yesterday which literally read as: "I hope you will get the feature in India soon."
I was stunned at the language, to be honest, and said so.
Now it is: "We are working hard to give this to you, but can't say when." Progress though.

Thanks for taking attention to the serious problem (for us) as much possible at your end. First time ever I seriously felt SONOS is not serious about providing prompt support to the customers especially from India. How much time it will take to use voice service with Amazon Echo only time will tell but it's testing our patience for sure.

I don’t understand this whole geography thing with this, I can understand content geographically restricted cause of copyright issue , how does it matter . It’s a self inflicted geography bug.

Why does the sonos option come with Alexa if it doesn’t work.

And why should it work in the exact same piece of hardware on the exact same location if you change ur Id .

Given this , we are working hard is disgusting

And why should it work in the exact same piece of hardware on the exact same location if you change ur Id .

I haven't tried this and probably won't but does it work flawlessly as far as Sonos control is concerned? Obviously local relevant skills would be also lost, but if the Alexa bit works flawlessly in Indian physical locations by just doing this switch, Sonos is being unresponsive and/or disingenuous for no reason I can see, and ditto in saying they are "working hard" to fix this. Also, if someone confirms this, I can bang on the CEO's door with this interesting fact.
And Ryan/Sonos Staff, that claim to read every post on the community, but haven't cared to respond to even one here, owe us at least a reply ASAP, I think.

See this for more insights:https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/alexa-in-canada-6793811/index1.html#post16165316

While I am surprised that Alexa was not released in Canada ages ago, as far as India is concerned, it is a whole different ball game right now for Sonos partner Amazon, that are full steam ahead in their efforts to not lose the Indian market, having already lost China to Ali Baba and other local players. Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO worldwide of consumer business in an interview here today while in India has very clearly confirmed the first part; investment to date is USD 2 billion with a plan to ratchet this up to USD 5 billion if the 125% growth rates that have been seen continue to persist and India is their fastest growing business in the world is his statement. In the last 12 months, growth in Prime subscriptions, although from a small base are also the highest in the world. Having also used Amazon India for much of my online shopping in the last two years, I am not surprised; service and fulfilment levels, along with support, is world class.

So if Sonos Skills are missing here, I doubt very much that it is due to Amazon. The ball is with Sonos to run ahead with, if they have the will, energy and genuine global aspirations to do so.

And before anyone asks, I have done my door banging today by sending a copy of that interview to Patrick Spence, the Sonos CEO.

but if the Alexa bit works flawlessly in Indian physical locations by just doing this switch, Sonos is being unresponsive and/or disingenuous for no reason I can see, and ditto in saying they are "working hard" to fix this.

Exactly this is a pure sw block , which shouldn’t be difficult to remove ,

Any response Ryan, before you go away for the weekend?

I think it's important to remember that Sonos isn't currently sold directly in India.
Thank you for your response, Ryan, but the quoted doesn't have wings.

I bought my Sonos in 2011, shipped by Amazon US to me officially, paying Indian customs duty that they collected from me. Once an official outlet of your does that with no objection from you that I am aware of AND my units are registered by Sonos AND you collect the revenue from the sale, that excuse is not available any more. Sonos officially has a multi channel go to market distribution strategy that has served you well and you cannot now pick and choose from such consequences of that as are not convenient.

And there is the Sonos published claim on your present FAQ: Alexa will work with Sonos wherever Alexa services are officially available from Amazon. In India, they are, for over ten days now with a notice on September 30 that this will be the case. So, in a sense, this is more than 45 days now.

And before aspiring to be everywhere as you say, I think it makes more sense to first be there wherever Amazon Alexa is, as far as Sonos skills are concerned. As well as a legal obligation most likely, given the above. Certainly a moral one.

As you may be aware, I have banged on the CEO door often on just with this, so if results still aren't forthcoming, Ryan has an out. Including apprising him of the interesting little fact that if I change Amazon market places, Sonos skills will be available right away. I choose not to do that for many reasons.

PS: I also know that in line with the same Amazon announcement, Alexa is just released in Japan. A heads up for you for what that is worth.

I think it's important to remember that Sonos isn't currently sold directly in India. While we have some great customers like you guys, we have yet to officially enter India as a company.


I do agree with your point. Let's see this from Indian customer point of view now. In India Sonos isn't directly sold was a big concern for me when I was going to purchase it's first product considering if unfortunately anything goes wrong with the product at hardware level (apart from software/setup issues), I will be unable to repair it. This is in concern of shipping & getting back will not be an economical / practical solution. If you check the price of Sonos product on Amazon in India you can find its almost cost us twice than a customer in US because of shipping & custom duty. My many friends like the Sonos items I have but restrict themselves buying because of unavailable local service & off-course the price.

Now the customers in India like me purchased Sonos product coming over the issues mentioned above only by following their gut feeling, love & confidence about the reliability of Sonos items. Don't you think these customers need service to get released especially considering it on software level ?

I am still not clear about the technical hitch restricting from releasing the voice service in other countries. Because only Sonos customer can only use it. Sorry about my ignorance but I am really interested in knowing what is the bottleneck for not releasing it.

This is the first time Sonos has collaborated with other company with hardware as well as software (Amazon Echo) & not syncing with each other. I have purchased Amazon Echo only for controlling my Sonos product but just waiting for the getting the service released. Alexa is working fine except getting skills for Sonos in India.

My discussion may sound a bit unpractical but after all my passion for music & Sonos was the reason for investing in Sonos products. As you said some customers in India but you can not measure their love & passion equally with other customers in other country.

As you said some customers in India but you can not measure their love & passion equally with other customers in other country.
Erm...I would not go that far. Every human likes the music of their choice as much as any other. Nationality is irrelevant.

But what is accurate is that in terms of revenue delivered at this time, we don't contribute much to Sonos. Should that matter? There can be many valid answers.