The smart speaker market is suddenly starting to look a lot more crowded.
Sonos has been making some of our favorite wireless speakers for years but it appears that the company is planning to challenge Apple, Amazon, Google and Samsung with its own smart speaker that will also be powered via voice.
Apple’s freshly unveiled HomePod speaker may soon get some competition from its Silicon Valley neighbor Facebook. The social network giant is supposedly developing a smart speaker of its own and based on a report out of Asia, it could pack some features that HomePod can’t match.
Sonos makes some of the best wireless speakers money can buy, but they’re not compatible with some of the most popular streaming apps. Darlite is a new device that changes that.
It’s the first accessory that unlocks “the full potential of your Sonos system” by allowing you to connect to devices and services over Bluetooth, AirPlay, DLNA, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Three of the new hardware products Apple unveiled today at WWDC 2017 won’t be available until then end of 2017, but thanks to a hands-on section Apple hosted to developers, you can already get an idea of what it’ll be like to use the new iPad Pro, iMac Pro and HomePod.
Press members have been busy playing with the new products all afternoon and the early impressions are overwhelmingly positive. Of course, some issues on the iMac Pro and HomePod may still need fixing before launch, but it sounds like fans will love them.
Apple’s biggest competition in the music streaming business may be preparing to become a hardware rival, too.
Jobs listings posted by Spotify indicate the company is planning to make a hardware play. Spotify says it’s working on a “category defining product,” but based on what the company compares it to, Apple might not have much to worry about.
As TVs get flatter, their sound gets worse. Enter Sonos’ latest home theater speaker, the $699 Playbase, a thin and flat home theater/streaming music system designed to sit underneath your TV.
Like the TV above it, the Playbase is thin, but it packs a significant punch. Resembling a pizza box with rounded corners, it features 10 speakers, including a muscular built-in subwoofer, and it can make quite a noise. In fact, it sounds fantastic.
The Playbase is louder and punchier than Sonos’ current home-theater speaker, the Playbar, and a lot more unobtrusive. You don’t really notice it’s there, until it starts shaking the room.
Apple’s iconic “1984” Macintosh ad, directed by Ridley Scott, debuted 33 years ago last month, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still being ripped off by other tech companies.
The latest culprit is Sonos, which just debuted a new 90-second commercial in which a rebel with a cause (and apparently enough money to throw around perfectly good speakers) hurls a hammer… err, we mean Sonos speaker through the windows of her neighbors, who have the audacity to be enjoying a music-free evening.
Fight the power!
Sonos has teamed up with Amazon to bring Alexa voice control to its range of wireless speakers. The long-term deal will soon allow users to interact with their Sonos speakers via Alexa using voice commands.
Apple Music becomes an official part of the Sonos ecosystem Wednesday after months of beta testing on the wireless speakers.
“The feedback from Apple Music members on Sonos during the beta period has been great,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, in a press release. “Sonos plus Apple Music provides an amazing listening experience at home — and we’re excited to offer it to all Sonos customers starting tomorrow.”
Sonos, maker of some the best wireless speaker systems in the world, revealed today that it will add support for Apple Music by the end of the year.
The says a public beta for Apple Music on Sonos will be made available December 15. Sonos’ integration with Apple Music will allow subscribers to access the For You, My Music, New and Radio features of the service. A general availability to all users is scheduled for an early 2016 launch.
