Hey Siri, ...

Can't comment on US home appliances. Nice German ones last for years if not decades.

It always amazes me how happy the true followers are to dispose of perfectly functional pieces of hardware, at the behest of their Cupertino masters.

Here is a fascinating read (Engadget and The Verge are usually not this insighful when they are busy serving puff pieces):

https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/07/how-apple-reinvigorated-its-ai-aspirations-in-under-a-year/

This piece goes into the dynamics of AI behind the scenes. It's a very small world and its participants are anchored in academia and bent on "publishing"/ sharing... so annoying...

Can't comment on US home appliances. Nice German ones last for years if not decades.

It always amazes me how happy the true followers are to dispose of perfectly functional pieces of hardware, at the behest of their Cupertino masters.


Mentalities are different in Europe RE: material possessions and money.

Cars and home go through the same shorter ownership cycles here in the US.
It's a combination of planned obsolescence, marketing and easy access to financing. Everything can be had for a "low monthly"payment!" :)

Beyond the fact that you are dealign with people who love tech and therefore are more inclined to get the "latest", the introduction of new features are worth the update. Maybe not every year personally but you stand to benefit from the advances of tech every 2-3 years for sure. The relatively high resale value of Apple helps you get rid of toys to get the newest one.


How did you witness it personally?

I think its great that so many Sonos users are "Sonos Fanboys" - including me. But bashing Apple/Android is misdirected.
Should we be asking Sonos "what's the plan?" or drag Apple through the mud for actually releasing a product to avid music listeners?

I've come to accept that Sonos is no more a "high-tech" firm than Denon or Klipsch. Sonos is a music appliance manufacturer. Yes, their appliance was revolutionary when it appeared almost 15 years ago. Since then they've iterated the same basic appliance - all logical extensions of the original ("Now with a bigger speaker!" and "Now with a smaller speaker!").

I would love for Sonos to integrate with the Apple/Amazon/Google ecosystems. I don't want them to develop their own Alexa competitor. That ship has sailed, and if they announce that they're building their own version of the Echo, then we'll all know the company has jumped the shark.

The real crime here is that Sonos is acting like a high-tech firm (keeping future product development a BIG secret) and failing to provide guidance or a roadmap because they want to own first-mover advantage. That makes a lot of sense if you're Apple or Google, but could you imagine Klipsch saying "we aren't telling you what we're doing next, but we promise it will be big" - and then releasing a Bluetooth 4.0 speaker? What's the secret in that. It's a logical extension of their product line.

Sonos should put a stake in the ground and say "We are committed to working with Amazon. We'll release that integration on October 1, 2017. Some of you may say it's a little late, but we wanted to do it right. Thanks for your commitment to our platform."

The ONLY reason for their secrecy is that a) they aren't as good at product development as they should be and can't forecast accurately; or b) they are building their own voice-enabled services; or c) they are STILL wringing their hands internally trying to figure out what they're doing. ALL THREE are concerning.

I've got thou$sand$ invested in the Sonos platform and I love my system, but I'm also fatigued at waiting for Sonos to catch up to literally "every major audio company" in releasing a voice-controlled music solution.

We should be encouraging Sonos to move quickly, share their plans with their CUSTOMERS, and then execute on their plans. At this point, Sonos' ecosystem isn't meeting the needs of the market. They're behind. And they are unlikely to leap ahead of the competition in the "smart speaker" space. So there is more risk in saying nothing (which risks Sonos customers moving away from the platform) than making a firm announcement (and at least temporarily freezing that decision until the new Sonos product/offering is released).

I'm calling "Bad Leadership" on the Sonos executive team. And you should too.

Sigh. Yet another one who knows nothing about the software development process. :8

Thousands is no longer a "lot" of money and you'll have no problems selling your SONOS gear to help pay for something else.

But don't worry @TyBrewer SONOS have stated they will work with all voice platforms the way they work with all music services.

Amazon Voice efforts exec just stated that he'd like for Alexa and Sir to be able to talk to each other.

Fascinating times...

It always amazes me how happy the true followers are to dispose of perfectly functional pieces of hardware, at the behest of their Cupertino masters.
Every thrift store in the USA is loaded down with gadgets sporting Apple's obsoleted 30-pin connector. Will Apple do it again, and move to USB-C?

BTW, I've visited the thrifts for years (vintage hi-fi, fix and sell as a hobby). Have seen tons of obsolete Apple gear, but zero Sonos gear.

@jgatie, attacking the arguer instead of the argument. Yet another one who knows nothing about debate.
(PS - software developer here) 😃

@Temperamental

No, I do not currently own any apple products. I certainly have in the past though. I've owned ipods and iphones. I dropped them when the Galaxy looked like it did all that Apple could do, but had more flexibility. I have not regretted that decision.

I get that Apple gains a lot of quality by being a closed system, as much as possible, but I also think they are too expensive and don't allow for as much flexibility. I also see why others don't care. If Apple came out with a product that interested me, that did worked with what I already have and did it well, I would seriously look into it.

My kids have an ipod touch and iPhone, but I really don't deal with those much.

sidenote: As a developer of sorts, I never liked deadlines. It's done when it's done right. You give people a date and they assume you screwed up if it's late, which usually isn't the case. If it's done early, they think you either lied to them, or you are some genius, which isn't the case.

I am good without having a date for delivery. I would be curious to know how the development is going and what it's going to be, but I also understand that people will not understand setbacks and could question feature changes and all that. So go ahead and don't tell me.