Google Assistant: Actually Coming?

So further reading shows the CEO pointedly refused (twice) to confirm to The Verge that Google Assistant is coming in 2018, saying instead "we're working on it." https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/highlights-from-the-vergecast-interview-with-sonos-ceo-patrick-spence/ar-AAyHq9k

Pro Tip: integrating another company's cutting-edge proprietary tech is hard and takes a lot of time.
Extra Pro Tip: Portraying your aspirations and hopes as facts in the marketing campaign for your expensive new product is not cool (and also not an awesome legal strategy if you do a bad enough job at delivering).

Yeah reluctant partner doesn't bode well for the future long term. Google could upgrade & kill sonos intergration whenever they fell out.
Interesting that sonos thinks google have impinged on their IP (I always assumed £15 audio chromecast must have used sonos IP somewhere inside), but unlike dennon who could offer them nothing much, google can offer youtube music and google assistant....

You won't see Google allowing Youtube as a service on Sonos until after they start supporting it on their own Chromecast Audio devices, and there is no sign of that happening.

But negotiating with Google to get Assistant using patents is a smart move IMO.

Cheers,

Keith

Youtube and Youtube Music are now two discrete services. While Youtube Music does draw on music video offerings from Youtube, it is considered to be a separate service and will eventually be replacing Google Play Music. It also offers an "Audio Only" playback option in the mobile app.

Also, Google has told The Verge that support for Youtube Music on Sonos would be coming soon. If Youtube Music doesn't already work with Chromecast Audio, I'd be surprised.

Pro Tip: integrating another company's cutting-edge proprietary tech is hard and takes a lot of time.
Extra Pro Tip: Portraying your aspirations and hopes as facts in the marketing campaign for your expensive new product is not cool (and also not an awesome legal strategy if you do a bad enough job at delivering).

I doubt it's a matter of putting google tech into sonos hardware as it's working out the APIs and communication between servers. And I find it interesting that you're imply Sonos was too aggressive with their timeframe. Typically, customers complain that the integration isn't coming fast enough and they deserve a hard exact date.

I also doubt they are legally obligated to deliver by any certain date. It certainly would be bad from a PR perspective if they did. Apple didn't seem to take too big of hit for delivery late on Homepod with less features than originally advertised, but Apple works under different expectations from the customer.

If Youtube Music doesn't already work with Chromecast Audio, I'd be surprised.

Be surprised. It doesn't.

EDIT: Actually a recent update seems to have added it. That's good news as it paves the way for it on Sonos too.

EDIT 2: It only is available if you have a premium account, which makes sense. I would expect the same for Sonos support

Cheers,

Keith

End of the Day, Sonos sold us a product with support for Google Assistant this year so if that statement is not true then Sonos will never get my business again

It's July. The year ends in December.

I very rarely use Alexa and have never used Google assistant for anything. For me it is all about the music/sound quality and ease of use. I don't need Sonos to turn on my blender!

I'm building out a living room where I'll have a Beam (with Alexa), hooked up to a TV, that's also hooked up to an NVIDIA SHIELD (with Google Assistant). Any reason to think these two voice assistants might not play well together?

No data points yet to be able to provide a good answer.

End of the Day, Sonos sold us a product with support for Google Assistant this year so if that statement is not true then Sonos will never get my business again
Most companies nowadays seem to be over promising like this. Tesla overpromises things all the time (such as model 3 production), Apple teased AirPower, AirPods, and iPhone X long before they were available (AirPower still isn’t available after 12 months), and Samsung promised a foldable smartphone/tablet coming “in the future” back in 2014. It’s a fact of life, some may call it lying but it’s really just poor planning

So, to frame things more positively: Sonos is working on integrating Google Assistant; they plan to be done by the end of the year; they have chosen to disclose this. So are they making a promise? Or just being transparent? Maybe both.

Sonos promised Alexa in August 2016. They delivered for the holidays 2017. They have never missed a promised feature, except for the Audible disaster (which was still released, eventually).

Google support will come, more than likely in the same timeline as Alexa; in time for the holidays. No sense getting Underoos in a bunch until then.

This is the only assistant all these companies should be using, not trying to create their own half-baked fairly useless assistants and putting them in TVs, fridges and washing machines.

Hopefully it will be the update that kills the dock.........every silver lining needs a cloud 🙂.............and I don't have a dock 😉

This link says it could be delivered in the not too distant future...

Patrick Spence Announcement

Will Alexa And Google work side by side ? Or will we need to delete or disable Alexa ? Hoping Google will be more receptive as Alexa can be deaf!