After reading Spence’s comments on reddit (why isn’t he on here?) I have to say I no longer understand what Sonos sees as its core audience or function.
I get that local libraries are a bit passé for many on here, but are also strongly loved by those still using them, but, even if you get your music from Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz etc. surely a key part of that experience is the ability to queue music and edit that queue? The whole ability to queue up music at a party with friends by passing round the iPad for example was alway a big part of any music service, and I’m sure still is, along with the ability to save said queue into a playlist.
Sonos clearly don’t have the queue thing in the front of their mind anymore and seem to think people want to be able to control Sonos outside the home, but I can’t hear my speakers outside the home? The key thing with speakers that you can’t easily change is that you generally need to be within earshot of the damn things for them to be of any use…
So does that mean Sonos now see themselves as a TV speaker company? But again what use is control outside of the home? Is that what they sell most of now? In this scenario music queue’s don’t matter… but you still need to be there…
And then headphones. the one thing Sonos headphones could have done that would make them a bit more interesting would have been to play music from Sonos like another speaker… which at home with WiFi *could* be possible if WiFi didn’t drain the battery in an hour, but out of the home would either require a SIM card and a mobile phone built in, or connection to your phone which would be well, just like any other BT headphones really… The only unique feature appears to be targeted at people who watch movies on their own all the time… you can’t even link two headphones to the one TV to enjoy a film up loud when a more conventional speaker setup might be anti-social.
It feels like Sonos have no idea what segment they are targeting even if the new app actually worked… it’s half hearted everywhere.
And am I alone in thinking it’s a brave (stupid) move to disenfranchise the core users you built your brand and reputation on, even if it’s not a growth segment?
Is the only thing allowing them to stumble around in the dark looking for a new light switch the fact that no-one else seems to have been able to offer something similar that works?