Sonos sues Google

Voice control and streaming are very popular. And you don’t have to enable them if you don’t want to, so nobody is being alienated. It’s seems clear, however, that you have an agenda and aren’t going to let facts get in the way of making your point ;)

I am with SONOS in this. I don’t think that they would have gone so far if they weren’t sure about it. I love my SONOS speakers, they are superior to every other multi room Wi-Fi speaker and system I have ever used and I don’t care if google pull the plug in google assistant support. SONOS controller app is excellent.

I must be in the minority when it comes to not giving a toss about voice integration. I bought my Sonos system for music alone. The fact that I can use voice control is a bonus, same with TV surround. None of it was a factor in me spending a considerable sum on their products over many years. If anything, I wish Sonos would stop chasing voice control integration with the likes of Amazon and Google, (it’s not their USP) and just concentrate on making the best audio products they can. I don’t want to see them waste cash and ultimately fail because of focusing on the wrong thing.

I have no interest in voice control, unless it can be accomplished fully locally.  That being said, I don’t care if Sonos includes it, as long as I can turn it off and they keep developing the music playback aspects of the ecosystem.  And if voice control increases sales so they can afford to keep improving everything else, more power to ‘em.

Google’s turnover is something like 150 times that of Sonos

Actually I think the next Lawsuit will be filed by Tutle Beach against Sonos, Logitech, Apple, Amazon, Google, Bose, etc. for infringing on the patents related to their Audiotron product. If you create a device that can stream MP3s then they will sue you for patent infringement. They might even claim that they own the concept of streaming music to a dedicated hardware device in general regardless of Codec.

While I get the sentiment, and don’t completely disagree, stats show that smart speakers with voice control dominate the market.  I don’t know that Sonos could survive without some level of voice integration.  You really can’t make much of an argument that ignoring voice control is a good business strategy right now.

I don’t see why Sonos can't concentrate of voice control and best audio products at the same time. I think that’s what they’ve been trying to do the past few years.  Since voice control came out, they’ve actually created 2 products with built in voice, Sonos One and Beam.  In the same period, they came out with  Sonos Amp, Port, Sonos One SL...not even factoring in the iKea and Sonance products.

@melvimbe - 4334 Posts!!
I think Google, and all the tech giants really, need to be careful that their actions against small companies don’t appear to be retaliations for being sued and such.  Again, looking like a bully is bad for business.

@southern gal
i love to support smaller companies (i work for a small software company) and will be a Sonos diehard fan and purchaser for as long as i am able .

Sonos is a $1.3 BILLLON dollar company.... there is no definition of a "small" company that includes billions with a "B".  They also just did a $37.5 Million dollar acquisition!  Sonos speakers are in at least 7 million houses! (and I've read as high as 30 million houses)

You may perceive them as "small" because of their incompetence, for example Sonos lost $29.6 million during Q4 of 2019!  And let’s not forget their recent "recycling program" bungle!  Just like their privacy policy and s/w updates, they go out of their way to antagonize their customers.

https://craft.co/sonos

@melvimbe - 4334 posts!!!!

stats show that smart speakers with voice control dominate the market.

I don’t care what "dominates the market", it is not what I purchased at a premium. 

And BTW, look what that focus gave them, the opportunity to sue Google.

@Kirk33
It’s seems clear, however, that you have an agenda and aren’t going to let facts get in the way of making your point ;)

plenty of facts in my original post and newly attached link….

But you are correct anyway, YES I have an agenda! I want Sonos to fail! I thought that was clear.  They wasted a lot of my time, caused a bunch of frustration and, they were a terrible company to deal with.

And by the way all.... notice this thread is in the "Music, culture & the industry" category.  

No, but you can make the argument, especially now they’ve acquired Snips that they should own and control their own voice control system and not be dependent on doing deals with the devil which is ultimately why we are in this discussion right now. Again, I’m probably in a minority but the current implementation of voice control is actually pretty useless to me as it assumes you are playing music from a streaming service whereas I play mostly from my own CD quality collection on a NAS drive.

I also think if someone puts voice control at the top of their must-haves above sound quality then why go to the expense of Sonos? you might as well buy the cheaper/inferior Amazon or Google products.

What a wonderful person you are to wish unemployment on thousands of workers because of your lost time.