Been waiting for Google Assistant for over a year. Bought my Sonos system because of the promise from Sonos that Google Assistsnt would be available in late 2018. Very disappointed.
Moderator Note: Google Assistant is now available for use on Sonos. Read more here.
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Because Sonos, by their admission, were late regarding voice assistance technology. They they were slow almost a crawl regarding the work for Google Assistant. Then because of pressure to be seeing to getting this product out due to missing 2018 timescale, they posted a blog 1st November last year saying they had completed a great deal of work on Google Assistant and asking for trialists. The blog further stated than they would give a further update early 2019. Sonos words not my interpretation. Well we are nearly half way through March. By any defenition that is not early 2019.
So another timescale set by Sonos missed. In the UK recently Google were selling their max for £200. I was tempted, but held off. If or when the deal comes back I will buy and ditch Sonos if Google Assistant has not launched.
Google Assistant is available with LG, Sony, JBL need I say any more.
So another timescale set by Sonos missed. In the UK recently Google were selling their max for £200. I was tempted, but held off. If or when the deal comes back I will buy and ditch Sonos if Google Assistant has not launched.
Google Assistant is available with LG, Sony, JBL need I say any more.
Userlevel 2
Bore bored bored... very close to giving up as shifted from Squeezebox to google home, etc and was very happy. When I moved into a new house I invested heavily in Sonos throughout on the promise of upcoming google support. Of course this is continuing to fail to materialise and even though I spent thousands on sonos, my wife still uses a google home device for music as Alexa sucks and sonos app is inconvenient when compared to the ease of natural language commands of google assistant. Money would be better spent with google devices and audio amps then sonos!
Im just stunned why Sonos is treating their customers like this. This will only backfire and cause them to loose customers. I loved sonos, but after so much lies i will recommend people to buy others brands. Why dont sonos say something or be more transparent? Are they this arrogant? This makes me believe they only think about money... Shameful.
Userlevel 2
My argument, based on the fact I have worked in IT R&D for over 20 years, is that they made a market commitment without the actual engineering investment. To allow a slip of a software integration of over 12 months (and it is an integration effort, not a new development) from initial announcement reflects a lack of engineering resource. The poor side of this is that people invested based on their announcement of upcoming support. There is a reason why mature technology companies rarely promote roadmap beyond 6 months unless there is significant back room engineering underway, this is because it can influence sales both positively and negatively. Positively in a way that customers invest based on expectation that may not materialise which damages brand, negatively as it can cause customers to delay purchases while awaiting for the new releases. I think Sonos has shown a high level of immaturity with the way they have handled the google assistant as they obviously made announcements before they have had even proven viability in the labs. As such they have hit hurdles either technically or resource aligned that has caused the delay. The product is solid but without assistant it still is no better in my house then what I had with squeezebox as far as my family is concerned. Once you get use to google assistant it is hard to down sell the family (especially wife) back to remote/mobile control.
For the sake of transparency of setup, 2 x Sonos Ones with Alexa, 1x Sub, 1x soundbar, 2 x AMP so we have Alexa but it has nothing on google. For google I have 2 x google chromecast audio, 3 x google home, 2 x Sony google speakers. The google devices get used by everyone but myself as the lone Sonos consumer in the house.
For the sake of transparency of setup, 2 x Sonos Ones with Alexa, 1x Sub, 1x soundbar, 2 x AMP so we have Alexa but it has nothing on google. For google I have 2 x google chromecast audio, 3 x google home, 2 x Sony google speakers. The google devices get used by everyone but myself as the lone Sonos consumer in the house.
Sonos made the promise, and they are dragging their feet in delivering. I too purchased Sonos One based largely on the promise that Google Home integration was coming. I haven't dumped my two Sonos One speakers yet, but they have definitely lost the value of my purchase due to the negative feedback I have spread to friends and family.
Just going to drop this here....
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/9/18563413/sonos-google-assistant-smart-speakers-coming-next-week
Looks like Ha1337's "reliable source" isn't so reliable.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/9/18563413/sonos-google-assistant-smart-speakers-coming-next-week
Looks like Ha1337's "reliable source" isn't so reliable.
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.
I'm curious if you've reached out to your reliable source to ask him/her for a reaction to today's news. I'd be fascinated to hear what reaction they have.
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.
My, this post seems to have aged well. 😃
Why don't you people get it that Sonos is WORKING TOGETHER WITH GOOGLE on the integration, and therefore have to adapt to Google's working schedule?
I promise you that Sonos is not dragging their feet. This is top priority for Sonos. They are losing a lot of money on this.
Google might well be dragging their feet. We already know that Google is not keen on sharing this product with Alexa. We also know that Google sells a whole-house music product that directly competes with Sonos (Google Max). There isn't really much incentive for Google to play nicely here.
I'm seriously thinking of selling my 3 Play:1 speakers and buying something else. It's pretty ridiculous that this integration isn't already here. I paid $250 for these things and can't even use them like I want to. I can sell one of them and probably buy two more speakers with that money that actually work with Google already.
Stay tuned forever... ?
Userlevel 7
+21
Why the insults? It is not in Sonos' interest to delay and they have explained it's taking longer than expected.
Well, you can't really make an argument that Sonos intended to miss their deadlines. I don't think you can all it a lie, unless you have proof that they never intended to deliver on time, or knew that it wasn't possible. I've heard nothing to support that.
I have no doubt that Sonos has lost some business due to this. Missing the Christmas season was clearly a disappointment. As far as being transparent, you could argument that attempting to be transparent and provide a rough (very rough) date is what's causing the disappointment to begin with.
The event is still ongoing. However I looked at the Google store today, the Google Home Max speaker has been reduced to £299. This is a permanent price cut. This product competes with Play 5 at a cheaper price. Other products also get permanent price reduction. Looking like major competition for Sonos in smart speaker area.
Distressing, if true. But I have to imagine that there had to be some sort of legal agreement signed by both parties before Sonos would announce the plan, as they did. Seems like it would be expensive for Google to back out at this point, although not impossible.
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.
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.
- 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/
https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/07/google-launches-new-developer-tools-for-the-google-assistant/
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.
I don't hold the person who posted here in any disregard, they only passed on information that had been given to them. I am curious about the reliable source has to say, though.
[quote=nyxeka][quote=Misfit]
tbh I was just looking for a nice soundbar, but like I said, I was hoping for Google assistant.
Regardless of whether or not it hits my region, you can bet I'll be using it before then ;)
You could always get the JBL Link Soundbar with Google Assistant! Oh, wait....
tbh I was just looking for a nice soundbar, but like I said, I was hoping for Google assistant.
Regardless of whether or not it hits my region, you can bet I'll be using it before then ;)
You could always get the JBL Link Soundbar with Google Assistant! Oh, wait....
I'm curious if you've reached out to your reliable source to ask him/her for a reaction to today's news. I'd be fascinated to hear what reaction they have.
Probably a little far fetched, but I'm guessing someone does/did have insider info. Instead of passing on the truth, stating GA integration wasn't going to happen would lower Sonos stock value (a good time to buy) right before it gets a significant raise when the actual news comes out?
Stay tuned!
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