Missed opportunity: Portable Sonos One with Wifi/BlueTooth/Alexa &Power Doc for home use

Absolutely agree, I have always thought Sonos should also have a capability to be portable at least in their Play 1. I find myself often moving from the inside of my home to the backyard and have to use my UE Megaboom outdoors.

Well except that it doesn't do multiroom (right now anyway) and probably doesn't sound as good as the Sonos One. It's basically an Amazon Tap, although it probably sounds better and is a bit slicker overall.

It's surely a good solution for a lot of consumers out there, but I don't know that it's a missed opportunity, since Bluetooth speakers is a crowded market. Really, you could say Ultimately Ears is missing an opportunity for not making the equivalent of a Sonos One.

Right mevimbe, this is what sonos could bring! This is not just a Bluetooth speaker. It has Wifi so it can stream right from the internet with out your phone. Also I have used UE bluetooth speakers and they sound Real good, not as good a sonos but very good, and better than no speaker out side.

I doubt Sonos is going to make a product that doesn't do multi-room sound. It's kind of their thing.

It is a horses for courses thing, though the Alexa bit won't work out of range of WiFi. I extensively use a couple of bluetooth speakers with offline songs stored from Apple/Google for away from home use, but WiFi based Alexa makes this a non starter for me.

There's lots of interesting Alexa-enabled stuff around the corner. Triby I/O, Garmin Speak or the UE Blast / Megablast model range are just a few to mention. Exciting times!

I doubt Sonos is going to make a product that doesn't do multi-room sound. It's kind of their thing. who said it could not do multi room, it has WiFi!!

Come to think of it, I have an old JBL Bluetooth speaker that probably sounds fairly similar to this. Since the Amazon music app has Alexa built in, and doesn't even need to be in wifi range to operate, I can come pretty close to accomplishing what this product does already. Yes, I have to open up my phone, push a few buttons, but I'll trade that off for removing the wifi restriction.

It is a horses for courses thing, though the Alexa bit won't work out of range of WiFi. I extensively use a couple of bluetooth speakers with offline songs stored from Apple/Google for away from home use, but WiFi based Alexa makes this a non starter for me.

Yeah this is interesting. The speaker also has Bluetooth and can play songs from your phone, not sure why the speaker couldn't just use your internet connection over bluetooth for alexa. Maybe too slow?

I doubt Sonos is going to make a product that doesn't do multi-room sound. It's kind of their thing. who said it could not do multi room, it has WiFi!!

Since when does wifi connectivity mean multi-room? Your tablet has wifi...can it do multi-room audio?

I actually googled the product and read a wired review on the product, where explicated stated that multi-room functionality is not currently a feature, even though previous, non-Alexa enabled speakers by the company were.

Yeah this is interesting. The speaker also has Bluetooth and can play songs from your phone, not sure why the speaker couldn't just use your internet connection over bluetooth for alexa. Maybe too slow?

I don't think Bluetooth protocol can be used like that. You could use your phone as a mobile hotspot to create a local wifi network. However, some phones are not capable, or not enabled to do that, and it may require a wifi setup on the speaker every time...don't know. Regardless, I would think Bluetooth would be the easier route if you're using your phone for connectivity.

I doubt Sonos is going to make a product that doesn't do multi-room sound. It's kind of their thing. who said it could not do multi room, it has WiFi!!

Since when does wifi connectivity mean multi-room? Your tablet has wifi...can it do multi-room audio?

I actually googled the product and read a wired review on the product, where explicated stated that multi-room functionality is not currently a feature, even though previous, non-Alexa enabled speakers by the company were.
Sonos can use WiFi for multi room, there is nothing stopping sonos from coming out with a portable wifi speaker that can do multi room

However for someone that is used to the UE bluetooth speaker sound - and I am not being patronising here, a lot of sound quality perceptions are created this way - this looks like a good idea with its charging dock for at home use with Alexa always having to be on. Grab it and leave home for using it via its battery/bluetooth even minus Alexa makes it a more versatile product than either Echo or Sonos. Or even for just carrying it to the bathroom.

Which is why I feel that the winner in all this will be Amazon, the common factor, with Amazon Music seeing a big bump in subscriptions.

This was indeed a missed opportunity for Sonos. They missed the opportunity to devote a huge amount of development resource to a product outside their core offering, using a technology they have always deliberately shunned, in a market that is already crowded.

Every opportunity has an opportunity cost.

The other interesting thing is the timing: we have been complaining all of 2017 about why Sonos is taking so long. Finally Sonos releases its thing in October, and UE follows suit in a couple of weeks. I am pretty sure that Amazon has something to do with this, it isn't just a coincidence.

Sonos can use WiFi for multi room, there is nothing stopping sonos from coming out with a portable wifi speaker that can do multi room

It's not that simple. They can't just slap a battery on the back of Sonos One (or Play:1) and say it's a portable speaker. It will surely need to be weather proof, have acceptable battery life and power consumption, and probably need to Bluetooth since it will have to useful outside of wifi. Then it also has to have the proper 'guts' to be able mesh with the sonos network and handle NAS file indexing and such, just like all sonos products. Because Sonos has a history of backwards compatability, it has to be built to hand tomorrows feature requests. And it can't fail, because that's going to turn off customers from the sonos system. And again, that' a rather crowded market where the chance for good profits is much lower.

Still think Sonos is missing an opportunity here?


Which is why I feel that the winner in all this will be Amazon, the common factor, with Amazon Music seeing a big bump in subscriptions.

Agreed, and there is surely some sort of licensing fee that Amazon gets with every 'Alexa enabled' product sold.
Every opportunity has an opportunity cost.

Yep.

there is surely some sort of licensing fee that Amazon gets with every 'Alexa enabled' product sold.


No, Amazon wants you to use alexa so they can collect data on you and so you use it to buy stuff


Still think Sonos is missing an opportunity here?

Yes

This was indeed a missed opportunity for Sonos. They missed the opportunity to devote a huge amount of development resource to a product outside their core offering, using a technology they have always deliberately shunned, in a market that is already crowded.

Every opportunity has an opportunity cost.

Yes because NO BODY wants out door speakers /S
Such forward looking posts here, its almost like the old CEO is talking

This was indeed a missed opportunity for Sonos. They missed the opportunity to devote a huge amount of development resource to a product outside their core offering, using a technology they have always deliberately shunned, in a market that is already crowded.

Every opportunity has an opportunity cost.

Yes because NO BODY wants out door speakers /S
Such forward looking posts here, its almost like the old CEO is talkingYou are completely missing the point. Of course people want outdoor speakers. It does not follow that the BEST use of Sonos resource is to develop one.

Of course people want outdoor speakers. It does not follow that the BEST use of Sonos resource is to develop one.


So you are saying a $299 out door speaker is not the best use of sono resources, really?

Sonos: Listen to your music on our incredible sounding speakers EVERYWHERE, except outside in your back yard or any where else in your house that you do not have a plug or where there's water or your camping or at the beach etc..

CEO's are ousted for a reason, even he knew they were not moving in the right direction.

Ah, if only you were in charge....

Ah, if only you were in charge....
Why would I want to be CEO? I'm a customer looking to expand my Sonos ecosystem to my patio. Saw the ultimate ears MegaBlast with WiFi, BlueTooth, Alexa and charging puck and said THIS IS WHAT I WANT, just with SONO'S

So you are saying a $299 out door speaker is not the best use of sono resources, really?


I think Sonos made the right choice in creating the Sonos One and integrating Alexa with the entire Sonos lineup. Absolutely that was the right choice. If Sonos starts losing market share it's going to be because they were beaten by Apple, Google, Amazon, Bose, Denon, etc...in the multiroom wifi speaker market. They are not going to go out of business because they didn't enter the portable wifi/Bluetooth speaker market.


Sonos: Listen to your music on our incredible sounding speakers EVERYWHERE, except outside in your back yard or any where else in your house that you do not have a plug or where there's water or your camping or at the beach etc..


You can listen to sonos in your backyard, I do it all the time. And way better and easier to deal with the a portable speaker. I've never had a problem finding a plug for my sonso speakers. And I don't want to take expensive speakers to the beach. I'd rather take cheap speakers that I don't mind getting damaged so much.


CEO's are ousted for a reason, even he knew they were not moving in the right direction.

Which is why I think Sonos should start making speakers for cars. I mean, you can listen to sonos everywhere except your car! I'd buy a $300 sonos car stereo that had wifi (for when the car is parked in my driveway) and Bluetooth everywhere else. And yes, Alexa integration...that works though my phone without Bluetooth (because I can do that already) Why isn't Sonos taking this opportunity?

Despite having none of the financial information, no marketing research, and little understanding of Sonos' strategic direction, you are confident you know what Sonos should be prioritising. And it happens to be what YOU want.

You think you know better than Sonos. Can you understand why I might think Sonos knows better than both of us?

You think you know better than Sonos. Can you understand why I might think Sonos knows better than both of us?

Yes Sonos knows so much they ousted their CEO months ago. If they want to stay competitive they have to start thinking differently. You have airplay 2 coming out that will do multi room. Alex speakers can already do multi room. Google home, HomePod, UE speakers with wifi streaming.. its endless. If sono's thinks it can survive with the same old game they will be gone in a few years. (and that will STINK)