It will come as no surprise that speaker manufacturers will eventually create their own line of smart speakers. It seems to be the current OEM trend, with the success of Amazon Echo devices, Google Home, Apple HomePod, etc. Everyone and his brother will want to cash in on this market trend. Sonos seems to be one of those as a heavily redacted FCC filing indicates they will be coming up with their own smart speaker with a built-in microphone.
ZatsNotFunny writer David Zats discovered this FCC filing where it looks like Sonos will be introducing a new line of speajers that will use far-field microphones for “integrated voice control”. Unfortunately, the rest of the document will only be revealed by February 28, 2018 and until then we’d have to do with the redacted version. The information isn’t that much, only that it will support “multiple voice platforms” but it’s enough for us to know that the American consumer electronics company is planning to make a big move in this market.
Some of the current Sonos speakers actually have a bit of smart home integration already going on. For example, some are compatible with the Spotify app so you can control your music from your speakers. They are also close to releasing an official Sonos Alexa Skill which can be a stop-gap solution while we’re waiting for an actual smart speaker from the company.
We may probably not get an official announcement from Sonos yet regarding a smart speaker line, but it will be interesting to see what they will do next and if that will actually be an indication or confirmation that this new speakers are in the pipeline.
VIA: SlashGear
