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Then they would have to continue supporting those devices, which isn’t part of the planned obsolescence business model. It would also dilute the luxury brand ha

Then they would have to continue supporting those devices, which isn’t part of the planned obsolescence business model. It would also dilute the luxury brand halo that Sonos has tried to cultivate. It’s more like Louis Vuitton getting into the secondhand market. They too would (and do) destroy merchandise rather than let it get sold at a discount and dilute the brand value.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
asdff 7y ago
You can already buy louis vuitton at the nordstrom rack. The model for highly disposable luxury technology is Apple. Apple is also the model for refurbished goods. These things aren't mutually exclusive. You can tuck away a refurbished part of the site just out of the eyes of the majority just like Apple does.
- gwright 7y ago
  "highly disposable"? I think if you consider the average useable lifetime of an Apple product they aren't as expensive as they may seem. Of course there are people who want a new model phone every year but that is their choice, certainly not something forced by the nature of the product.
  - hootbootscoot 7y ago
    How does that viewpoint square with 1) Deliberately slowed-down hardware (claimed concern about "older device batteries" don't wash with reality either...) 2) Planned obsolescence in the forms of A) Removing/altering physical ports, preferring proprietary "standards" to actual standards B) Irreversible OS upgrades, Internet Recovery Mode notwithstanding, and the deliberately hobbled functionality "older" hardware endures, see leaked employee info on deliberate unnecessary version flags purpose built into software, etc.
    - colejohnson66 7y ago
      What do you mean the older batteries concern is fake? Batteries literally lose capacity and capable amperage over their life. Yes, they way they handled it initially could’ve been better, but to say it’s not reality is to literally ignore reality.
  - hootbootscoot 7y ago
    but yes, bad Sonos. (to bring it back on topic)
jasongill 7y ago
It's worth noting that other than the physical controller devices (which were discontinued in favor of mobile apps but still given a generous lifetime), Sonos still supports all of their hardware from the very first speakers / amps that they released. Not that this makes their current actions ok, but at least they had been trying until now. I think they are now realizing that having a product that doesn't have built-in planned obsolescence may be hurting their profits
bathtub365 7y ago
They’ve actually done a pretty good job of being backwards-compatible and even enabling features on older speakers if they’re grouped with newer ones. For example, having an AirPlay 2 speaker in a group means that all speakers in the group will receive sound through AirPlay 2, even if they didn’t support AirPlay in the first place. That makes this even more puzzling.
- davidy123 7y ago
  Not really, if older hardware doesn't support newer features, you'll think about switching ecosystems when you need more speakers. This approach justifies more Sonos gear.
- cptskippy 7y ago
  Didn't they face huge backlash a few years back when they EOLed still functional kit people owned and used? * It was the CR100 Controller they updated to no longer be able to control devices it previously could.
  - JonathonW 7y ago
    Sonos EOLed their hardware controllers, since they'd moved over to their phone-based controllers almost exclusively several years before (it had been a while since you could buy the hardware controllers). AFAIK they've never EOLed any speakers. Older speakers sometimes don't get newer features (like AirPlay 2), but they still work and can even play back AirPlay 2 audio if grouped with a newer speaker.
cellularmitosis 7y ago
For a physical device (ie featured-locked upon shipping), “support” amounts to paying the server bill, which is likely negligible.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  That's the problem right there, for a hardware manufacturer post shipping there shouldn't be a server.
  - tlb 7y ago
    They at least need an update server so they can receive security patches. Once you need that, it's a slippery slope to depending on lots of things in the cloud.
    - tomc1985 7y ago
      Why are these devices so complex as to need security updates?
      - ben-schaaf 7y ago
        Because they're connected to the internet. Because IoT.
        colejohnson66 7y ago
        To expand on that: security. Without security updates, your devices could be hacked.
        tomc1985 7y ago
        Horrible stuff.
    - jacquesm 7y ago
      Synology gets that right.
  - 7y ago
legopelle 7y ago
But still, why not say so directly? Why lie about sustainability? It seems extremely dishonest.
- wayoutthere 7y ago
  Because they’re an “old” Silicon Valley company still sticking to the rhetoric of “technology always makes the world a better place!!!”

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

asdff 7y ago

You can already buy louis vuitton at the nordstrom rack. The model for highly disposable luxury technology is Apple. Apple is also the model for refurbished goods. These things aren't mutually exclusive. You can tuck away a refurbished part of the site just out of the eyes of the majority just like Apple does.

gwright 7y ago
"highly disposable"? I think if you consider the average useable lifetime of an Apple product they aren't as expensive as they may seem. Of course there are people who want a new model phone every year but that is their choice, certainly not something forced by the nature of the product.
- hootbootscoot 7y ago
  How does that viewpoint square with 1) Deliberately slowed-down hardware (claimed concern about "older device batteries" don't wash with reality either...) 2) Planned obsolescence in the forms of A) Removing/altering physical ports, preferring proprietary "standards" to actual standards B) Irreversible OS upgrades, Internet Recovery Mode notwithstanding, and the deliberately hobbled functionality "older" hardware endures, see leaked employee info on deliberate unnecessary version flags purpose built into software, etc.
  - colejohnson66 7y ago
    What do you mean the older batteries concern is fake? Batteries literally lose capacity and capable amperage over their life. Yes, they way they handled it initially could’ve been better, but to say it’s not reality is to literally ignore reality.
- hootbootscoot 7y ago
  but yes, bad Sonos. (to bring it back on topic)

jasongill 7y ago

It's worth noting that other than the physical controller devices (which were discontinued in favor of mobile apps but still given a generous lifetime), Sonos still supports all of their hardware from the very first speakers / amps that they released. Not that this makes their current actions ok, but at least they had been trying until now. I think they are now realizing that having a product that doesn't have built-in planned obsolescence may be hurting their profits

bathtub365 7y ago

They’ve actually done a pretty good job of being backwards-compatible and even enabling features on older speakers if they’re grouped with newer ones. For example, having an AirPlay 2 speaker in a group means that all speakers in the group will receive sound through AirPlay 2, even if they didn’t support AirPlay in the first place. That makes this even more puzzling.

davidy123 7y ago
Not really, if older hardware doesn't support newer features, you'll think about switching ecosystems when you need more speakers. This approach justifies more Sonos gear.
cptskippy 7y ago
Didn't they face huge backlash a few years back when they EOLed still functional kit people owned and used? * It was the CR100 Controller they updated to no longer be able to control devices it previously could.
- JonathonW 7y ago
  Sonos EOLed their hardware controllers, since they'd moved over to their phone-based controllers almost exclusively several years before (it had been a while since you could buy the hardware controllers). AFAIK they've never EOLed any speakers. Older speakers sometimes don't get newer features (like AirPlay 2), but they still work and can even play back AirPlay 2 audio if grouped with a newer speaker.

cellularmitosis 7y ago

For a physical device (ie featured-locked upon shipping), “support” amounts to paying the server bill, which is likely negligible.

jacquesm 7y ago
That's the problem right there, for a hardware manufacturer post shipping there shouldn't be a server.
- tlb 7y ago
  They at least need an update server so they can receive security patches. Once you need that, it's a slippery slope to depending on lots of things in the cloud.
  - tomc1985 7y ago
    Why are these devices so complex as to need security updates?
    - ben-schaaf 7y ago
      Because they're connected to the internet. Because IoT.
      - colejohnson66 7y ago
        To expand on that: security. Without security updates, your devices could be hacked.
      - tomc1985 7y ago
        Horrible stuff.
  - jacquesm 7y ago
    Synology gets that right.
- 7y ago

legopelle 7y ago

But still, why not say so directly? Why lie about sustainability? It seems extremely dishonest.

wayoutthere 7y ago
Because they’re an “old” Silicon Valley company still sticking to the rhetoric of “technology always makes the world a better place!!!”