I'll cut right to the chase. Sonos gets wireless audio distribution. They also get user experience. Their products have appealed to many affluent gadget savvy consumers and they've made no apologies for being expensive, nor for requiring their customers to bring their own audio hardware – speakers, amplifiers, etc. If the consumer accepts that, Sonos provides the rest – elegant wireless control and access to tons of internet radio stations and services like Pandora, Rhapsody, etc, as well as access to libraries stored on computers around the house.
With the new Sonos ZonePlayer S5, they've decided to appeal directly to the iPhone and iPod touch user and provide a solution in a box (and a free downloadable app). It's basically a big white speaker that looks as boring and unassuming as Bose's best (and worst and everything in between quite frankly). But that's probably ok, because they are taking aim at exactly the people who've been gobbling up those inert-looking Bose products for over four years now. At 399, it ain't cheap, and I have no idea how it sounds, but it's been a couple years in the making, so I doubt they've cut too many corners.
Sonos's claim in their email announcement to the press that the iPod speakerdock market is a "billion dollar market that hasn't innovated" is as bold as it is smug, and frankly, typical naive marketing nonsense. That's ok. I'll forgive them, for I'm smug too. To be fair, Sonos has been about innovation for a long time, and it's who they are. It is however, ironic, that a pretty freakin' obvious extension to their product-line took so damn long, so touche to you, Sonos.
Another broken assertion Sonos made is that "Apple (inadvertently) has begun teaching music lovers about the benefit of streaming music. Apps like Pandora, Last.fm and more recently SIRIUS and Rhapsody, have become popular content applications."
Apple hasn't inadvertantly done anything. Let me point to the following exhibits:
Pandora app
Last.fm app
Slacker app
Rhapsody app
iheartradio app
Sirius/XM app
Need. I. Go. On. Apple totally gets it, which is exhibited with every app approval they've made to bring that kind of content to the iPhone OS platform...which includes the iPod touch, by the way. Shame on you for Sonos for telling me that "...the S5 is... designed for an iPhone (not an iPod)." In fact, you're selling your addressable market short by more than 50%. Doh!
One thing that the wirelessaudioblog reader will appreciate to be sure... any "non-innovative" speakerdock on the market that can dock an iPhone or iPod touch has the ability to playback all that great content already. But to Sonos' point I suppose, in most cases the iPhone/touch must be docked to the speaker. My gripe is one of marketing nuance... to position the Sonos as the great content liberator is grossly overstated, and so again, marketing nonsense. What Sonos does gives you is their usual wireless remote goodness and multi-room playback capabilities, that is, assuming you buy more than one, or have some of their older stuff. So again, if you are a first time buyer and choose the S5, to enjoy the core of the Sonos brand-promise, you are going to have to shell out some more dough, or just feel really good about the $100-plus premium you spent to have a wireless remote control app and the option to expand to more rooms in the future.
Will this be successful? I think so (just as I thought so over 2 years ago when we pitched them this exact concept as a means to sell them our amp chip). The business benefit to Sonos per se is their new access to speakerdock purchasers at retail, if in fact they are fortunate enough to get placement in that area of the store, which isn't automatic but I don't doubt they can manage it. Also, the price-point and true "solution" nature of the all-in-one speaker-node give it a simplicity of message that is easier to communicate to new buyers of the Sonos system. This SKU also gives existing Sonos users a simple way to extend their Sonos networks to new rooms, presuming it meets their audio quality requirements and design tastes.
To summarize, Sonos has caught up with the realities of consumer audio today, by offering a form-factor and speaker configuration that addresses the iPhone/touch user who's also a likely buyer of speakerdocks. For a few years now, the speakerdock category of product has been the one shining growth category of CE audio into which billions of consumers' dollars have flowed proving its relevance. In my opinion, Sonos is a welcome comer to the category, and should have been here twelve to 24 months ago when they could have captured some of those early billions. Here's hoping there are billions more to come, to which Sonos is welcome its slice.
Sonos has released an introductory video for those who have no idea what I'm talking about.
New Squeezebox Touch has the potential to be a really cool little box. I have been a fan of the concept of Squeezebox Duet since their initial launch at CES a couple years ago. I am hesitant of anyone who build their own touch screen UIs because they are expensive, buggy, and will always look crappy next to the latest and greatest iPhone or Android phone. Sonos is a recent example of just how lame a couple year old graphics remote compares to a simple app running on a iPod Touch or iPhone.
The use of the LCD like that on the Squeezebox Touch as a static display for ambient information or great now-playing renderings... can mitigate its otherwise general lack of utility when compared to a iPhone/Android controller surrogate.
Stereo Bluetooth support on iPhone is coming with iPhone OS 3.0. Welcome news for many, but beware of the reduced audio quality you will get from many existing 3rd party A2DP devices. Generic A2DP only support SBC compression format for wireless transmission, and therefore you will get nasty transcoding (or tandem) artifacts resulting in muddy, muffled sound quality.
I suspect that Apple has some slick wireless headphones up their sleeve, and the Bluetooth module makers are offering codec upgrades to natively support Mp3/AAC decoding for A2DP receivers. If this is the case, then most content sold on iTunes or Amazon may not need to be transcoded presuming it matches a bit rate that BT A2DP can handle.
Overall, a big day for wireless headphone lovers...
Friday, December 11, 2009 at 3:45PM 
