Amazon Echo

Even if Amazon, Echo or others wanted to get into the premium speaker market (which there is no evidence they do) and compete with Sonos, it doesn't make sense for Sonos to develop their own voice control system. Is that going to make a customer chose a Sonos speaker(s) over the hypothetical Amazon speaker? I wouldn't think so, as people will want all the extra features that Echo provides with Voice control. It would be nuts for Sonos to try and compete with that.

Nah, partnering with Amazon (and probably the rest eventually) makes much more sense. As others have pointed out, they already seem to be in the lead regarding that.

With the introduction of the HomePod from Apple, it would seem pertinent for Sonos to get on with this.

I would suspect that Sonos hasn't been sucking their thumbs since the announcement. I imagine it's a fairly complex issue, and we'll see the results of it as soon as they're able to bring it to us.

I suggested Sonos team up with Alexa the day they came out. It's been a few years since then and it still hasn't happened and I don't think it will. They can tease us with nebulous timelines and vague promises but I'm not going to pay attention to any of that.

Either do it or don't do it.

Having a bad day Steve? What with this and your Audible rant ;)

Of course they are working on both, they have said that and whilst Sonos may be a bit reticent with their sharing of timescales I don't think they can be accused of lying, they don't have a history of that. What they have admitted is that they were caught napping on the whole Voice control thing. The new CEO admitted that and also committed to catching up, which is what I assume they are doing now. I don't see any other choice yet in the market other than Amazon and Googles own speakers. As for Audible I suspect this is tied in with the Alexa project, it would make sense as both are Amazon companies, but of course it means audible is held up.

I am frustrated, i would love to see Alexa working with Sonos, i have enough of both companies kit to have voice control all over the house. But criticism over lack of firm dates is harsh as that is standard in Software engineering, especially when new technology is involved. Better that than dates announced which then move every few months.

Of course they are working on both, they have said that and whilst Sonos may be a bit reticent with their sharing of timescales I don't think they can be accused of lying, they don't have a history of that. What they have admitted is that they were caught napping on the whole Voice control thing. The new CEO admitted that and also committed to catching up, which is what I assume they are doing now. I don't see any other choice yet in the market other than Amazon and Googles own speakers.
I'll sound like an apologist here, but I'm not faulting Sonos too much for lacking foresight on the voice control front. Let's be realistic here, basically everybody missed the boat, and when the Echo surprised Amazon/everybody with the scale of its success that all changed. The world's largest company got caught flat footed after all.

On the second part, you are correct. It's insane for anyone the size of Sonos to try and compete in this space now. Amazon, Google, and Apple are in their wheelhouse with a headstart. The only thing that would send me into a tizzy is if Sonos actually tried to compete instead of integrating, which I've heard nothing of the sort from them.

I am frustrated, i would love to see Alexa working with Sonos, i have enough of both companies kit to have voice control all over the house. But criticism over lack of firm dates is harsh as that is standard in Software engineering, especially when new technology is involved. Better that than dates announced which then move every few months.

Agreed. Every day I open the Sonos app I wish I could've just spoken to my Echo, but it is what it is. Personally, I'd just as soon have a limited functionality release with more to come later, but there are a lot of customers who can't deal with that sort of iteration. They want it all, and they want it now. You're better off making them wait so they end up happy in the end.

Why don't those with a burning hurry for voice and a Sonos unit with a line in jack start the ball rolling with a Dot wired to the line in? Will that not do all that the integration will do wirelessly? All you have to junk later is the wire because the Dot will still be needed and used?

I'd agree that Sonos really isn't that behind on voice integration. The could have integrated sooner, but there is no reason to forsee it would be this big. If it was the obvious, google and apple wouldn't have gotten there late.

And I am also glad that Sonos didn't try and do it all themselves. That would have surely failed.

As far as using the line in with Dot as a temporary integration, it's far from ideal. I have a spare connect I tested that out with in my living room. This is also the room I have the tv and playbar setup. So in order for me to use this, I have to group the CONNECT zone with the PLAYBAR zone to hear it. If the tv is on (with audio), then I can't use my Dot because it the current source on the PLAYBAR. So I essentially would need to plug and unplug the dot /connect whenever I switch between tv and music. I suppose I could do the setup in my bedroom where there is no tv watching, but that's about 70% useful since I'm mostly out in the living room. As well, I run into problems when I group the bedrooms with other rooms...dot is rendered useless again.

I'm really exited about this feature since I bought my sonos speakers just to use them with alexa

Why don't those with a burning hurry for voice and a Sonos unit with a line in jack start the ball rolling with a Dot wired to the line in? Will that not do all that the integration will do wirelessly? All you have to junk later is the wire because the Dot will still be needed and used?

No, since I can't use the dot to control playback of my personal music. It might work for streaming sources, though.