Hello
A lot of members are touting the potential “demise” of Sonos due to the misstep with the release of the S2 App Refresh. Still others are threatening to sell and/or mothball their Sonos gear and move on to a competitive product.
I’ll not argue that those community members expressing their dissatisfaction with the App release are in error. To the contrary. Sonos has admitted that certain features are missing and will be addressed as quickly as possible. I’ve only had one issue with the refresh and that was with Trueplay which for me has been corrected and I’m able to use the feature once again.
As far as the other legitimate missing features are concerned such as alarms and missing libraries I’ve used them very little or never as is the case with music libraries. However, alarms are working for me.
The reason I’m posting (again) regarding the S2 Refresh missteps is to ask “does it really signal the demise of Sonos? Demise of Sonos can take many forms depending upon how one defines it. I’ll leave the definitive phrasing of “demise” up to you as the reader.
What I want to point out is that over the last decade or two some well-known companies have had some critical product/service missteps and are still around. Maybe they had the following “Survival Points” in their favor (to name a few) such as:
- Established Brand recognition fostering rapid consumer forgiveness
- Multiple revenue streams
- Product revenue streams outside of their core product market
- Deep intrenchment within the corporate sector
- Strong international presence
Here’s a short list of those companies and the product, app or service involved. Note that some have made the list multiple times:
Alphabet (Google Parent Company)
- Cloud Gaming Service
- Google Glass
- Home App
- Portal
Amazon
- Fire Phone
Buick (General Motors) *
- Cascada Convertible
Samsung
- Note S7 Tablet Phone
Keurig *
- Kold
Apple
- AirPower Wireless Charging Mat
- The Newton
- iPhone 4 Antenna Gate (Steve Jobs declared “you’re holding it wrong”) Really?
GoPro
- Karma Drone
TCL
- Palm Smart Phone
Meta (Facebook Parent Company)
- Horizon Worlds Virtual Reality Spot (struggling to gain traction)
Microsoft
- Lumia Smartphone
- Windows Millennium Edition (ME) **
So maybe Sonos is a small fish in a big pond or a big fish in a little pond? Maybe Sonos doesn’t yet have the luxury of the “Survival Points” mentioned above?
That said, I do believe Sonos will survive this unfortunate chapter in their history and continue to be competitive in the wireless speaker whole-home market. Frankly, I can’t think of one company that competes on a one-to-one footing with Sonos in EVERY aspect of its core market.
Sonos may also realize that it can’t continue to be a “one-trick pony” and needs to branch out into other areas. You may have heard/read the rumor of a possible TV/Video Streaming product (box) and/or service (app). If that does come to pass it will give Sonos another lucrative revenue stream ;if executed correctly with the right partner(s).
* This company is not typically viewed as a “tech” company
** Added this for fun to test your memory as it supersedes that last two decades 