On May perhaps also unbiased 7, 2024, Sonos launched a brand unique model of its instrument supposed to relief customers organize their tune and their Sonos plan more with out command, and with fewer taps. What passed off next can handiest be described as a fiasco. Upon opening the unique app for basically the most indispensable time, Sonos customers own been now no longer handiest greeted with an irregular interface, many came upon that their programs had was unresponsive and that ingredients they’d come to rely on (cherish alarms and play queue acquire entry to) had evaporated.
As days and weeks handed, it grew to was sure that these weren’t non permanent system defects. Sonos’ CEO, Patrick Spence, spent the following summer and tumble apologizing and assuring his customers (and presumably his board of directors) that the firm had adopted an all-hands-on-deck stance and that fixing the broken app was every person’s prime priority. Alternatively, eight months after the initiate the app was soundless some distance from mounted and Spence was fired on January 13, 2025. His replacement, board member Tom Conrad, was launched the same day.
Conrad’s list of outdated gigs in senior engineering and product roles at companies cherish Pandora, Snapchat, Quibi, and Apple makes him a stable different as Sonos’ intervening time CEO. But that doesn’t mean it’s been a truly easy transition. For crawl, after I caught up with Conrad on his 116th day on the job, he described it as a somewhat hellish period marked by a host of challenges, collectively with his family’s relocation from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara — a puny distance on the arrangement that on the opposite hand turned accurate into a mini odyssey beset by the unparalleled L.A. wildfires, four diversified AirBnBs, two flat tires, and having his L.A. dwelling burglarized. Oh, and his dog got skunked. Twice. And that was ahead of we began to focus on concerning the job he’d been employed to attain: Repair the soundless-broken Sonos platform so that its customers would perhaps at final acquire support to playing their tune. Our quick chat managed to masks lot of ground: the firm, its merchandise, its now-defunct Ikea partnership, and, unnecessary to notify, the app (and why, twelve months later, our Sonos programs soundless aren’t working as they must soundless.) When he arrived, Conrad came upon that Sonos’ interior groups own been siloed by product class (headphones, dwelling theater, and so on.), making it now no longer easy to prioritize, share sources, or preserve a cohesive user skills. “The predominant thing that I did was to rob that apart and assign the crew support collectively into hardware and instrument acquire, and then attain a entire stock of the entire initiatives that own been underway, many of which, it turned out, own been insufficiently staffed for success.” Conrad slashed a record of “dozens” of these initiatives down to 11 smartly-staffed initiatives. “It changed the temper all through the firm, roughly overnight.” It also grew to was apparent that the sheer form of initiatives and silos had played to take into accounta good characteristic in the atrophy of Sonos’ core instrument platform. Since 2019, Sonos had launched replacement most up-to-date merchandise. Dolby Atmos soundbars, two forms of portable speaker, a Sonos-developed explain assistant, its first wireless headphones, plus a predominant push into the legit installation market. “The funding that the firm was making [in the core software],” Conrad notes, “was now no longer satisfactory.” And while the app redesign fiasco of 2024 is merely basically the most most up-to-date symptom of this neglect, Conrad says it’s to blame for the forms of reliability and performance concerns which own been left unaddressed since 2019, or longer. Clearly, having a customer dark that can’t use your product isn’t supreme for any firm. “No person wakes up in the morning and says, I could well perhaps well perhaps like to use some time in the Sonos app this day,” Conrad quipped. He’s crystal sure on the gap between how the app must soundless work: “I mediate now we own got one duty. The skills must be quick, legitimate, usable, and largely acquire out of your arrangement,” versus where it’s at this day, “The unhappy reality is that Sonos soundless fails too incessantly.” But the worst allotment of the redesign’s fallout has been the erosion of have faith. “The rollout of the app final year was this form of profound mistake. All of the goodwill that our customers would in most cases own utilized when they own got quite hiccup of their skills — we don’t acquire any of that unbiased appropriate thing concerning the doubt.” Conrad also appears to be gradually making his peace with an inconvenient and unavoidable reality: Longtime Sonos customers incessantly own wireless audio system and parts that date support to 2010 or older, and so that they quiz them to preserve working — “although the iPhone 4 they purchased the same year has long been relegated to the grime bin.” He in point of fact reminded me that Sonos gear is “ravishing to the particulars of your non-public dwelling network in solutions that practically nothing else you own is.” We discussed the intricacies of Wi-Fi and how, long ahead of there own been any commercially obtainable mesh routers cherish Eero or Orbi, the firm had created its own mesh plan identified as SonosNet. For a moment, it sounded cherish Conrad will be attempting to blame the firm’s performance woes on its customers’ networks. In fairness, we dwell in a basically diversified Wi-Fi atmosphere than the one Sonos came upon itself in support in 2005, when it launched its first product. Alternatively, he acknowledged that despite these challenges, Sonos has to own the solutions. “We made promises to our customers that we are able to synchronize audio accurate through their [devices], and so now we own got to resolve for this atmosphere. Right here’s the existence we’ve chosen.” He’s also quick to designate that if once-true Sonos customers now instinctively blame the firm’s merchandise (somewhat than taking a survey at their web connection or Wi-Fi for the flaw), “it’s entirely deserved.” One amongst the wonderful concerns with the unique app is that it hasn’t proven to be a more straightforward-to-use skills than the one it changed. Conrad sympathizes with individuals who’re questioning, “Why did Sonos plan this unique navigation paradigm?” Love many Sonos customers, he would perhaps moreover be quite serious. “It’s now no longer my appraisal that every person among these acquire choices own been suitable ones.” Soundless, Conrad sounds assured concerning the future. “I mediate we in actuality own cracked the code on the excellent concerns that we wished to resolve on performance and reliability, and we’re smartly on our arrangement to inserting that chapter in the support of us.” He says that fixes to the final usability and experiential concerns are coming through the summer and tumble. “ I feel basically wide about Sonos factual now.” At the tail waste of our chat, I used to be ready to squeeze in a single final series of questions spherical the waste of the Ikea Symfonisk speaker partnership — one which produced basically the most sensible and decor-friendly Sonos audio system to this point. Why nix this form of reputedly suitable match? “That partnership is eight years broken-down and has diminished to the point of being immaterial to our industry and theirs. It was a matter of strolling some distance from one thing whose heyday was long in the rearview.” I used to be tremendously shocked to hear that, given how smartly the Symfonisk audio system matched Sonos’ outdated mission commentary of “possess every dwelling with tune.” “That line of thinking is how we got into the partnership,” Conrad acknowledged, “on the opposite hand it’s now no longer basically the way in which it ever played out in the accurate world.” As for the mighty-rumored but never formally discussed Pinewood project — Sonos’ now-shelved switch into the video streaming world — Conrad refused to be drawn accurate into a dialogue. Alternatively, he did demonstrate that, “You wish to know what you would possibly moreover be handiest on this planet at, and or now no longer it is some distance a must to bite off an acceptable quantity to kind out. With out commenting namely, you’ll witness us continue to focal point where we are able to rating.” From the initiate of his tenure as Sonos’ CEO, Conrad has acknowledged the entire factual things. I came some distance from our chat believing that although Sonos’ concerns flee deeper than somebody had beforehand acknowledged, he’s taking into account what matters most: restoring our Sonos programs so that they merely work. Sadly, it sounds cherish it’s going to be several more months — now no longer lower than — till that day arrives. Some Sonos customers own already known because it quits and I can’t explain I blame them. Our dwelling has Sonos audio system in every room (collectively with one among the lavatories) and my family has grown weary of now no longer being ready to play the tune they need with out encountering bugs. We’ve even started asserting “Sonos” as curse be aware, kinda cherish Jerry Seinfeld frail to utter the title of his nemesis, Newman. Soundless, when it works, I own yet to search out a multiroom audio plan that sounds as suitable and has as many important ingredients as Sonos. Wiim is catching up quick — very quick — but for all of its strengths (acquire, hello-res compatibility, affordability, and reliability), it’s soundless now no longer as easy and easy to make use of as Sonos (yet again, when it works). I’ll be sticking with Sonos for quite longer. As frustrated as I am by its ongoing concerns, I mediate Tom Conrad deserves a shot at fixing them. And since Sonos didn’t acquire itself into this mess overnight (although that’s what it felt resolve on to most of us), I do know the fix can even rob time. I unbiased hope that patiently ready doesn’t also demonstrate to be a profound mistake. 
Too many silos
A unnoticed core
No more have faith
Legacy is soundless Sonos’ wonderful strength … and its wonderful weakness
Brighter days ahead
On Ikea and that mysterious Pinewood project
Down, but now no longer out
