3 ms·
As a Sonos user, it seems Sonos's key innovation has been its software and ease of use. Multi-room audio was HARD before Sonos- it could easily involve paying t
by topkai22 7y ago
As a Sonos user, it seems Sonos's key innovation has been its software and ease of use. Multi-room audio was HARD before Sonos- it could easily involve paying thousands of dollars to install low voltage wires over a house, along with installing extra controls in each room. Setting up a decent fidelity streaming audio solution was easier, but nowhere near the "plug it in and it works" capabilities of Sonos.
And that is what is getting them in trouble currently- Sonos is really a software product that is masquerading as a hardware product. People bought it expecting it be like, well, a speaker, but what they really bought was an experience more like buying a copy of Windows.
pwthornton mentioned that Sonos could becoem a SaaS company and start leasing hardware instead. I see that being a hard sell for customers, but going fully the route of being a SaaS subscription service for their coordination and streaming management services seems possible. That being said, I think they are terrified of becoming just and audio source- they currently charge $450 for the Sonos port, which basically just acts as an audio source for an existing stereo system.
- pwthornton 7y agoTransitioning to SaaS would be difficult, but they'll probably need to figure something out. Their current situation isn't tenable. People expect them to continue updating their software for free forever. The software they provide that makes their speakers work is the magic as you say, and it really does work better than anything else. It's certainly way better than AirPlay 2. But keeping that software working requires updates. I don't know the best path forward, but they should at least consider the Eero+ route of selling a subscription service that provides real value that also helps them support devices long term. Eero is incentivized to continue to support my 1st-generation Eeros because I pay them $99 a year. There is a lot of interesting stuff that they could do with a subscription service that would add value, and would also help them continue to pay for updates on older devices.
- topkai22 7y agoI can see a world where this ends with Spotify buying Sonos and it eventually getting called Spotify Home Audio, costing an extra $5/month.