Earlier this year, Sonos proclaimed that their awesome network-powered in home speaker system would provide support for Google Home Assistant automation in 2018. They went so far as to shake up the executive team, and provided statements about how they were all-in getting the ecosystems available for Google Home.
Well here we are in the final days of 2018, counting down the moments that will lead us to the inevitable fail, and without really a peep from Sonos or their all-in strategy. Sure they made some strides with Alexa and Spotify integration along the way, but Google Home Assistant is still the red-headed step child of home automation.
Too bad those expensive Sonos speakers sit waiting for something to happen in this space, because they are still the kid to beat when it comes to awesome sound and seamless integration into home and home theater solutions. But the clock is ticking. If another vendor steps up and provides products that match the quality of the Sonos line, there will certainly be a bunch of people who abandon ship in the space, and you will see a huge bump in Sonos speakers and gear hitting eBay moments later. When this happens, Sonos will be dead in the water instead of being positioned as the solution of choice on high end speakers as they have been in the past. Add the possibility of a spry Anker or other vendor jumping in (sure Google has the Home Max, but meh), providing quality and integration at a low price and the Sonos dream will be over.
I currently have 9 Sonos speakers around the house, and would certainly love to see the product move forward in the Google Assistant space, so sure I have a horse in the race. But couple the lack of integration and the awful change when the Spotify API changed and the Sonos app no longer maintained the folders, groups, etc. and the writing may finally be on the wall.
Drop your thoughts in the comments below, we would love to hear about your solutions and thoughts for the Sonos/Google Assistant world…