Sonos sues Google

Right, I’m just predicted that Amazon won’t want to get sued if things turn out poorly for Google.  It’s bad PR for a large company to be found guilty for stealing from a small companies.  Makes them look like bullies.  Amazon would then be smart to just work out a license fee with Sonos instead of fighting it.

That’s assuming that there isn’t a significant difference between the Google and Amazon tech.  Being that Sonos seems to sue everyone who does multiroom, seems like Sonos owns the only way, or has patent for all the ways it can be done.

As far as voice assistants go, I imagine there is a contract in place so Google can’t just pull services.  On top of that, they would be damaging their own customers in the process.  The would even be hurting themselves a bit as part of what sells their stuff is the notion that it can be used everywhere.  Perhaps they can put in some sort of exit strategy, but I don’t think it would just happen overnight.  

Besides that, Sonos recently bought a company called Snips that specializes in voice control from local devices, no cloud involved.  I  would bet that Sonos has this as a backup/replacement in case things go sour with Google and then maybe Amazon.  Heck Snips may actually be better than Alexa/Google in the long run if it does not have the same limitations in music playback that these do.  

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.

Hope this doesn't go badly wrong, and Google assistant gets pulled.  But there is no doubt the big tech companies are getting too much power. That's why I like to use other companies like SONOS and Spotify, who built the space they occupy, and keep competition.

Merged from duplicate thread by moderator.