Sonos will share its vision of “the future of sound” at a media event on August 30 in New York.
While no new hardware is expected, the event will likely outline additional functionality for the company’s existing line of wireless audio products — including the Play:5, which was introduced in 2015.
In a March blogpost, CEO John MacFarlane said the company would be making some changes to its strategy which lead to job losses. “As we look to the future there are two big areas that we’re leaning into: paid streaming services, and voice control,” MacFarlane said at the time.
Sonos
In particular, MacFarlane praised the efforts of Amazon in popularizing voice control in American homes.
“Alexa/Echo is the first product to really showcase the power of voice control in the home. Its popularity with consumers will accelerate innovation across the entire industry” MacFarlane wrote.
MacFarlane’s March announcement came within days of Amazon unveiling two new Alexa-compatible speakers, the Amazon Tap and the Echo Dot. Since then, Google has announced its own take on the Echo, the forthcoming Google Home. And Ultimate Ears has added Siri and Google voice commands (albeit via a paired smartphone) to its UE Boom 2 speakers.
Indeed, the Play:5 — unlike earlier Sonos products — has an onboard microphone, but it thus far is used only for the company’s TruPlay audio calibration functionality.
CNET will have complete coverage of the August 30 event as it happens. Stay tuned.
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