Recent developments and reporting within the last week seem to suggest that Sonos, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONO) is adrift and directionless as its new Interim CEO tries to right the ship. It has even canceled its next big product introduction. Is the company flailing? Or is it finally getting its act together?
See more on the recent Sonos reporting…
There haven’t been a lot of public actions by Sonos, but it is clear that current Interim CEO Tom Conrad has shifted into high gear, trying to get Sonos past the great app disaster of 2024, something it is still dealing with. Much like previous CEO Patrick Spence, Conrad and the company are trying hard to win back consumers, many of whom feel burned by a brand that sells itself as the “Sound Experience” company that went on to betray the trust of customers by destroying the Sonos experience with the latest app update in May 2024.
The company has been in an aggressive sales campaign, offering major discounts on Sonos products in direct communications to former customers. This includes by the way – much to the chagrin of many integrators – direct offers to their customers to buy more products directly from Sonos…at a discount. A discount, I might add, that is lower than the integrator could, or would, want to offer.
Project ‘Pinewood,’ Sonos’ ‘Next Major Hardware Launch,’ is Canceled
Will discounts on more purchases, make consumers feel better about the brand? I don’t know, but the main motivation is likely that Sonos needs to move inventory after several months of slow sales.
Then, in the last few days, a few interesting stories about Sonos began to appear – catching my attention. In a story by Chris Welch of The Verge, who appears to have some inside sources at the company, we learn that Sonos has abandoned “far-along plans” to release a streaming video player this year. Something in the vein of an Apple TV-type product, ostensibly code-named Pinewood, it was said to be the company’s “next major hardware launch.”
‘Pinewood’ Set-Top Streaming Device was ‘Deep into Development’
According to the report, it was already “deep into development”…and was actually undergoing Beta testing. That makes it pretty real. However, now Pinewood has been dropped from the product plan, at least for now. The report says that Conrad told employees that a move into video by Sonos is off the table “for now.”
That is probably the right decision. The streaming video set-top box market is pretty much dominated by Apple, Roku, and even Amazon and Google. It is not clear what differentiation that Sonos could have added. They may have been at risk of another Ace-like disaster, with a disappointing launch into a new category with tons of competitors and not enough differentiation to stimulate significant sales.
No Major Product Introduction for the Second Half of 2025
However, the decision to turf Pinewood apparently leaves the company without a significant new product introduction for the second half of 2025. The Pinewood team is said to be in the process of being redeployed to other projects – whatever those are – as the interim CEO reprioritizes the future product roadmap.
For now, the company transitions back to the previously announced all-hands effort to fully restore the app functionality, improve its performance, and try to win back its reputation with consumers. It still blows my mind that now ten months later, the app is still an issue.
Dealers: Progress Has Been Made, But More to Do and UX Needs Improvement
Dealers tell me the company has clearly made progress squashing bugs, reconnecting devices, improving discoverability, and adding back in other missing features. But the app’s user experience (UX) is lacking. It feels like there have been a patchwork series of individual fixes and just using the app frustrates some users. It is not elegant, intuitive, or simple to use…as it was pitched it would be.
Separately, Sonos Chief Innovation Officer Nick Millington posted on support.sonos.com that he and the team are “100% focused” on addressing the issues with the Sonos app. He specifically noted the following…
‘100% Focused…’
The team and I remain 100% focused on two important priorities:
- understanding the root cause of every single customer issue, whether big or small, whether common or rare, and making sure the technical performance of the app meets or exceeds what you have come to expect from Sonos.
- closing gaps in the functionality and usability of the new app relative to what you enjoyed before, in a priority order that is as responsive as possible to the feedback we receive from you.
Millington goes on to thank customers who have taken the time to reach out to the company through support and social media with detailed problem reports. He especially thanked those who “let us collect diagnostic information from their systems – this has sharpened our focus and led directly to the improvements I am now describing.”
Sonos CIO Describes Several App Updates/Fixes
The CIO went on to describe several new app updates/fixes, including improvement in the app when controlling Sonos portable speakers (Roam/Move)…restoration of the ability to “snooze” an alarm in the app…improvements in the usability of System Settings…and more.
However, still not fixed and in need of improvement: creating and editing Sonos playlists…improving the startup time of the app…making it possible to queue up entire folders of music and scroll faster through large lists…and more.
Still More To Be Done
So there is still work to be done…ten months after the onset of the great app disaster of 2024.
See Millington’s entire update at this link…
Sonos looks like a rudderless ship. They are chasing BestBuy customers with copycat bluetooth speakers, headphones and TV streamers and abandoning the unique market that helped them establish themselves in the first place. I imagine their CI dealers have been asking for a multi-zone rackmount streamer for at least a decade. But instead of releasing a requested product where they will be one of a few options in that market, they release the Ace and the Roam where they are one of 10,000 options, and not significantly better in any way.
And they STILL have no idea how to avoid creating a network loop if you connect their product with a wired ethernet connection. How have they not been able to hire someone who knows how network packets actually work?
Hi Jason and thanks for your thoughts. It’s interesting, on conference calls with analysts, Sonos always brags about their support from integrators and talks about how important the channel is to them. Except, in the field I see few signs of the importance of CI to Sonos. OK, a couple of CI-specific products were launched, but most integrators tell me the programs stink, the company steals their customers, and they appear to – as you point out – ignore feedback and market-specific requests. It seems like a fairly one-sided friendship…
I think what you are describing is a consumer products company that is looking to drive the mass market as its priority. To the extent integrators choose to support the brand, well then ‘thank you very much.’
Ted
I’ll take “Adrit and Directionless” for $500, Alex.
…oops, Ken.
I’ve invested a lot of time and money in Sonos over the years, and prior to May 7th 2024 really loved the product. Ever since then I’ve stopped loving them, and started hating them! What’s worse, because the system has become so buggy, I found myself listening to less and less music. Enough was enough, so after 10 months waiting for them to fix the app, I snapped…
My Bluesound replacements are excellent, and the DIRAC Live room tuning software that works with their Node and Node Icon (not the Node Nano), has improved my main HiFi’s sound immeasurably. I can’t see myself ever spending a single cent on Sonos products in the future and surely, I cannot be alone? Their share price has stayed down, and as consumers like me drift away, I suspect they face financial ruin in the long term
Goodbye Sonos, it was fun till you ruined the experience!