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This non-apology announces no changes, and does nothing for Sonos owners worrying which product get cut off next. They're even still selling the Connect on the

This non-apology announces no changes, and does nothing for Sonos owners worrying which product get cut off next. They're even still selling the Connect on their site - with no warnings! https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/connect.html https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/connect.html It seems completely incompetent, but makes sense if you believe they're going to be acquired this year. Ben Einstein said last in July 18 (https://blog.bolt.io/sonos-one/ https://blog.bolt.io/sonos-one/) Sonos are "a traditional speaker manufacturer incrementally adding technology in an attempt to keep up with a fast-moving race". Sonos probably still have the best multi-room speaker solution, but 1) their lead on that is slipping, and 2) I don't think new buyers care about multiroom as much as they do streaming services & features - i.e. the bits Sonos must be being squeezed on. Their proposed solution for customers with old devices is a software-managed network split between old & new - that will kills multiroom playback for holdouts! That's the worst of both worlds - Sonos paying programmers to prop up old devices, while owners still prepare to see a fundamental degradation in their system. Then the tie-in with IKEA seems like an enormous dilution of their brand. Now you can buy Sonos components from IKEA, and the IKEA home app can also control all of your Sonos speakers (not just the IKEA ones). So that's that I think they have a deal in the works (IKEA?) - and they're massaging a few quarters to show briefly increased profitability while the long-term vision can go to hell. In that light, cutting off old products in the face of so many angry customers makes sense. They remove a legacy support liability instantly, allowing them to be bullish about future R&D costs. And the angry customers are the ones bought into Sonos' 15yo product vision - they just may not represent much future revenue.

redsymbol 7y ago
"Non-apology..." "Completely incompetent..." What are you talking about? This letter from the CEO of the company clearly apologies, takes 100% responsibility, makes zero excuses. And among other changes, it plainly promises the devices will be supported for the foreseeable future. To quote: "[T]hey will continue to work as they do today. We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away." If you worked at this company in any role (CEO or something else - you choose), what specifically would you have done differently so far?
- mattbee 7y ago
  I know it's the CEO. It doesn't say the devices will be supported for the foreseeable future! It restates the woolly probability that you'll have to partition your system, and lose multiroom at, without stating what features that is going to be traded against after May, or at what point that will happen. That is absolutely taking something away! It just doesn't say when. It didn't acknowledge that only in November, Sonos reassured a customer on Twitter that No, the Recycle function absolutely didn't mean they were about to make products obsolete. It seems incompetent because it doesn't acknowledge how the Sonos products have now changed from permanent, reliable, expensive hifi units to fly-by-night junk that will lose support after as little as 3 years, and thousands of customers on their own community boards feel duped by a huge change. In answer to your question, if the CEO were planning that change to the brand, and it didn't matter to Sonos long term - maybe nothing different? They are competing against low-lifetime electronic junk rather than quality hifi, it's clear that's what Sonos now represents.
- JOnAgain 7y ago
  My components being end-of-lifed are the Bridge and Connect (and a Play5, but ignore that for now). The Connect is what connects my Sonos devices to the internet. By forcing a partition of my network, the other devices not being end-of-lifed will not be connected to the internet. To fix this I would need to buy a new device, move a speaker into the closet where the internet is, or run a Cat5 from the bedroom closet to the living room -- this is non-trivial. The other device is the Connect which allows my TV to play on the other speakers in my living house and living room. By partitioning my network, the speakers won't be able to play off the TV. I will have a living room setup with 2 sets of speakers that can't be synchronized. So ... unless they come out with a solution to let me keep all my devices on the "old" network and have a partitioned "new" network, I'm F*ed. I end up with 3 speakers on one network (one of which I guess has to be in a closet and just act as a little broadcast node) and 2 speakers on another network. I have my Play5 and a Play1 in the same room, which wouldn't be able to play the same thing. So, yeah, I'll never buy another Sonos product again. I'm effectively out a couple thousand dollars. Better to learn my lesson and move on.

redsymbol 7y ago

"Non-apology..." "Completely incompetent..." What are you talking about? This letter from the CEO of the company clearly apologies, takes 100% responsibility, makes zero excuses. And among other changes, it plainly promises the devices will be supported for the foreseeable future. To quote: "[T]hey will continue to work as they do today. We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away." If you worked at this company in any role (CEO or something else - you choose), what specifically would you have done differently so far?

mattbee 7y ago
I know it's the CEO. It doesn't say the devices will be supported for the foreseeable future! It restates the woolly probability that you'll have to partition your system, and lose multiroom at, without stating what features that is going to be traded against after May, or at what point that will happen. That is absolutely taking something away! It just doesn't say when. It didn't acknowledge that only in November, Sonos reassured a customer on Twitter that No, the Recycle function absolutely didn't mean they were about to make products obsolete. It seems incompetent because it doesn't acknowledge how the Sonos products have now changed from permanent, reliable, expensive hifi units to fly-by-night junk that will lose support after as little as 3 years, and thousands of customers on their own community boards feel duped by a huge change. In answer to your question, if the CEO were planning that change to the brand, and it didn't matter to Sonos long term - maybe nothing different? They are competing against low-lifetime electronic junk rather than quality hifi, it's clear that's what Sonos now represents.
JOnAgain 7y ago
My components being end-of-lifed are the Bridge and Connect (and a Play5, but ignore that for now). The Connect is what connects my Sonos devices to the internet. By forcing a partition of my network, the other devices not being end-of-lifed will not be connected to the internet. To fix this I would need to buy a new device, move a speaker into the closet where the internet is, or run a Cat5 from the bedroom closet to the living room -- this is non-trivial. The other device is the Connect which allows my TV to play on the other speakers in my living house and living room. By partitioning my network, the speakers won't be able to play off the TV. I will have a living room setup with 2 sets of speakers that can't be synchronized. So ... unless they come out with a solution to let me keep all my devices on the "old" network and have a partitioned "new" network, I'm F*ed. I end up with 3 speakers on one network (one of which I guess has to be in a closet and just act as a little broadcast node) and 2 speakers on another network. I have my Play5 and a Play1 in the same room, which wouldn't be able to play the same thing. So, yeah, I'll never buy another Sonos product again. I'm effectively out a couple thousand dollars. Better to learn my lesson and move on.