Sonos might be built into IKEA furniture after new partnership
Would you stream music through your furniture? You may be able to soon with a new partnership between Sonos and IKEA.
In what IKEA calls their third-step for its Home Smart initiative which has so far seen Qi wireless charging built into furniture and the launch of their own smart lighting. Now they’re working out some exciting new potential with wireless streaming speaker makers Sonos.
Björn Block from IKEA’s smart home division says: “At IKEA we strive to make solutions for life at home by integrating technology into our home furnishing offer that are easy to use and affordable, thereby making smart home technology accessible to the many people. Together with Sonos we want to democratise music and sound in the home, and we want to create products designed for how people listen together at home. By teaming up with Sonos we want to combine IKEA home furnishing knowledge with Sonos’ expertise within great home sound.”
The partnership won’t come to fruition until 2019 according to their announcement . What the partnership will actually involve by then is un-revealed but we can assume their announcement signifies more than just stocking Sonos Play:1 in IKEA stores.
IKEA say that their partnership with Sonos will “explore how to make it even easier for people to play any song, anywhere in the home, without interrupting the flow of daily life. Enabling people to create the right atmosphere in their home with great design, music and sound.
Their announcement made note of the importance of “music and sound”, which suggests that their partnership may lead beyond music streaming. With the recent integration of sound assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant there is potential for voice activated functions as well as music within the furniture.
Whatever happens in 2 years, it should be interesting!