RouteNote Blog

Sonos are ready to take on Amazon and Google by making their multi-room, Wi-Fi speakers go smart with voice control.

Shortly after references to a smart speaker by Sonos were found in the FCC, Sonos sent out a bunch of invitations for a media event in New York City on the 4th of October. I’m not one for assumptions, but you have to be in this industry, and assumably the event will focus on Sonos’ new smart speaker.

Sonos have been dominating the multi-speaker setup arena for a few years, but with the advent of smart speakers that are getting better and better in quality it’s about time Sonos caught up with their competitors like Amazon Echo and Google Home. Whilst Sonos is a speaker system and smart speakers have multiple functions like PA, weather updates, etc. – As the both have become synonymous with streaming music online through speakers seamlessly and wirelessly, smart capabilities were a given for Sonos to survive.

The speaker is currently nicknamed S13 and features integrated voice control. As information is limited about the S13 currently it isn’t known how far it’s voice functions will go. It may not go so far as to feature Smart Speaker features like diary planning and weather updates but we can safely assume it will at least feature voice search and playback abilities.

What is more interesting about the S13 speaker is that it lists support for a variety of voice platforms rather than a singular one. It’s not clear what this means but will likely relate to Sonos’ support of music services owned by various Smart Speaker makers, like Amazon Music, Google Play Music, and Apple Music. Of course there are also multiple music services that are supported on the speaker and by its voice controls.

At the moment the only clues revealed by Sonos themselves as to what the event will entail is a bold, red pair of lips plastered onto the invitation. This could suggest an emphasis on vocals, a rocky horror show tribute, a kissing party? Who knows – find out October 4th.