What up with Google Assistant!

i know people are not going to be happy with what i'm going to say, and this is third hand news, so dismiss it if you will.

but i know from a reliable source who was at Google I/O, that Google are blocking the release of assistant on sonos as it doesn't fit with their smart home strategy. details i don't know. but sonos are leaning on google hard to change their mind. it's otherwise ready for release.

the opinion from the insider was that it's just not going to happen anymore.

LOL. "reliable source"

If that was the case, blogosphere would be going nuts over it.

i know people are not going to be happy with what i'm going to say, and this is third hand news, so dismiss it if you will.

but i know from a reliable source who was at Google I/O, that Google are blocking the release of assistant on sonos as it doesn't fit with their smart home strategy. details i don't know. but sonos are leaning on google hard to change their mind. it's otherwise ready for release.

the opinion from the insider was that it's just not going to happen anymore.

LOL. "reliable source"

If that was the case, blogosphere would be going nuts over it.

Indeed. There are already plenty of 3rd party speakers that sport GA. Sonos may be asking Google to add features that Google is slow rolling, but this "reliable source" is BS.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/1612-best-google-home-smart-speakers.html

The number of 3rd party speakers that integrate with GA is tiny compared to the number of products that integrate with Nest thermostats and yet Google is disabling that API on August 31st as part of their new product strategy. Also new GA products will come under the Nest brand going forward so it is not that far fetched to think the Sonos integration might also fall victim to this new reorganization. It will be interesting to see just how far Google will go with locking everything down.

Google is ADDING dozens of new devices to GA. They're doing just the opposite of "locking down". They want GA to control everything in the home.

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-assistant-quietly-gets-native-controls-for-a-bunch-of-new-devices/

Google is ADDING dozens of new devices to GA. They're doing just the opposite of "locking down". They want GA to control everything in the home.

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-assistant-quietly-gets-native-controls-for-a-bunch-of-new-devices/

Exactly. They want to control everything in the home by locking down the API that currently allows 3rd parties to control their stuff. By ending the "Works with Nest" program and associated API they prevent things like IFTTT from working with their products, As I understand it the replacement "Works wirh Google" API will not allow any third party be the master or central control for Google Nest products but will only allow control requests sent through a Google Nest Home Hub. The requirements are also going to be different for developers to get into the "Works with Google" program which is going to be intentionally limited to a small number of approved partners "to ensure better security". There is already speculation that the Amazon Echo is unlikely to get that approval (or will be unable to accept the restrictive requirements that will be imposed) and therefore may not be able to control Nest thermostats and cameras after August. Since Nest and Home Assistant are now part of the same Google Nest division it is unclear if these changes could extend to things like Google Home enabled speakers or if any of the new API restrictions impact the integration between Sonos and Google Nest voice assistants. It is just interesting that all of these things seem to align with the statement posted earlier from the "reliable source".

As a person who has invested heavily in Sonos and the Google echo-system I suspect, but hope I'm wrong, that come the end of the year there will be no announcement from Sonos about GA integration with a blog dated 1st November 2018 there gathering dust. I believe, opinion only, that Google will go there own way and cut Sonos out.

Google are slowly but surely expanding their product line espically those that dovetail with music listening. Hope I'm wrong but if I were Sonos I would be worried.

A couple problems with this rumor

- Google (not Sonos) stated that the integration was happening back in January. While that could change, you would think this change would have been thought out enough to not make the announcement if it was not a sure thing.

- The public beta is currently ongoing, at least according to the most recent reports. Why would beta continue if the project was being dropped? Although folks are not supossed to talk about beta, I think you there would definitely be news about it if it happened.

- Remember, part of the deal with the integration is that Sonos agreed not to sue Google for theft of intellectual property if they agreed to integrate with Sonos. If the integration is off, that means a lawsuit would be back on. Given the deep pockets of Google and the volume of google assistance in the wild, that's a lot of money.

- On the surface anyway, it seems like a very bad strategy. There are certainly advantages to having a closed system, but it's proven to fail in the long run when competitors catch up. Google doesn't have that big of an advantage where customers will shun all others in dedication to google. It's worked for Apple for a time, but not so much anymore.

- The 'works with Nest' policy appears to be more of a merging Nest with Google type a move more than a closing the system type of move. Google also isn't doing this till August, which makes me think they are trying to get an idea of public reaction to the move before they do anything. If they did the same sort of thing with Sonos, there would be no chance to gauge public reaction.

What’s clear from all this is that Google is responsible for the delays, as it has been evolving its APIs and SDKs. The idea that Google wants to “lock out” Sonos, though, seems counter to their massive expansion to new devices. I think we’ll see GA control of Sonos soon, perhaps even using Local Home.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/07/google-launches-new-developer-tools-for-the-google-assistant/

What’s clear from all this is that Google is responsible for the delays, as it has been evolving its APIs and SDKs. The idea that Google wants to “lock out” Sonos, though, seems counter to their massive expansion to new devices. I think we’ll see GA control of Sonos soon, perhaps even using Local Home.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/07/google-launches-new-developer-tools-for-the-google-assistant/

I disagree. I don't think we can clearly state the cause of delays at all. Thee has only been speculation. Regarding the SDKs mentioned in your link they do not really look like good fits for Sonos. They don't mention music at all, mostly referring to native apps. I don't think Sonos wants to use native apps, or the local home, at least not initially, because it won't be of any use for their own speaker products, the Sonos One and Beam. Using Sonos already existing cloud service is the way to go. The Local Home would be a good option for those using google VAs with Sonos speakers, but it isn't the broad solution for all scenarios like cloud is. And it doesn't help sell new speakers for Sonos as well.

The local home looks like it will be a great push for selling Google's home hub stuff. Really good push, and I can see it being the top product next Christmas season. And maybe Sonos will work to integrate with that better in a phase 2, for lots of different reasons. I just don't see that happening right now.

I personally don't see much value in guessing whether to blame Google or Sonos. It seems like it only serves as a target for frustration. Why not just be frustrated without concern for who's to blame? Neither company has much to gain by accepting blame, or throwing the other under the bus, so we will unlikely know the truth anyway.

Google IO19 is over. No Google Assistant on Sonos yet and still no word from Sonos. I already never every recommend this speaker to anyone because of Sonos' lies and silence. But I still have 4 Sonos One's and I really hope Google Assistant comes one day. I still think it's because the HW is too poor and they're SW is really crappy. They can't make this happen I think. That's why they released a new Sonos One with better HW and more memory...

In the mean time you can lean back and enjoy the sound of one of the best sounding compact speakers on the market. Because sound is what this is all about, right ? And whats wrong with the software ? From time to time people complain, but honestly, I don't hear much complaints about the Sonos app.

I would never buy such an expensive speaker just because it supports (or doesn't) Google Assistant or Alexa. I trust Sonos they will keep delivering one of the best/most reliable wifi speaker systems on the market, but I wouldn't put my bets on Google. They have a history of starting and stopping products when it suits them.