Sonos

Corporate, financial, and marketing history

Sonos was founded in August 2002 by John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen and Trung Mai, with MacFarlane wanting to create a wireless service.During 2004, MacFarlane brought prototypes of the first Sonos products to several industry events, including the June 2004 "D2: All Things Digital" conference in Carlsbad, California and the December 2004 Digital Music Summit.Sonos aimed to begin shipping its products in the fourth quarter of 2004 but missed that deadline. The company first introduced its products to the market in January 2005 and first shipped them in either January or March 2005.In May 2005, Sonos announced that its initial product line would go on sale in the United Kingdom in the following month. The company has continued to broaden its international sales, for example to Japan in 2018.In May 2012, Sonos opened the Sonos Studio in Los Angeles, a studio and art gallery in which art was exhibited along with Sonos' products for free, and featured events with artists like Beck, The Lonely Island and Solange, and released a video about its development. The Los Angeles location was closed in 2018; a London location remains open.

In December 2013, the company was estimated to have raised $118 million in venture funding, including a $25 million round; its investors included Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Redpoint Ventures and Elevation Partners.In January 2015, Sonos was rebranded by Bruce Mau Design, with a new visual identity and improved logotype that was created over the span of four years, from 2011 to 2014. There have been other brand refreshes, including one in 2019.In February 2016 Sonos also released a study called Music Makes it Home Study.In March 2016, CEO John MacFarlane announced the company's shift to streaming music services and voice control instead of local playback, and laid off some employees.In July 2016, the company opened its first Sonos Store in SoHo.In September 2016, the company announced that its products would become available at the Apple Store.In January 2017, MacFarlane announced via the company's blog that he would be stepping down from his role as CEO, and that he would be succeeded in this position by former COO Patrick Spence.In December 2017, IKEA and Sonos announced a collaboration to build Sonos' technology into furniture sold by IKEA.In August 2018, Sonos went public, trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol SONO.In November 2019, Sonos acquires Snips SAS, a privacy-focused AI voice platform for connected devices with the goal to bring a music-specific assistant to its devices.In April 2020, Sonos revealed a new "sonic logo" composed by Philip Glass, featuring an ensemble of 21 musicians. The logo will be heard in the listening experience of Sonos Radio, an Internet radio streaming service that was unveiled by the company the same month.In June 2020, Sonos announced plans to lay off 12% of its workforce, close its New York store and six of its offices, and cut its top executives' pay by 20% for three to six months, in response to the economic disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic.In November 2020, Sonos launched “Sonos Radio HD", a paid ad-free tier of Sonos Radio.In January 2022, Sonos won the lawsuit against Google and Google had to remove certain features such as group volume controller from its devices.

Product history

Products announced by Sonos have been:

June 2004 - Sonos announced its first products—the Digital Music System consisting of two components, the ZonePlayer and the Controller -- then expected to be available in fall 2004. The products were introduced at the January 2005 Consumer Electronics Show. They first shipped either on January 27, 2005, or March 2005.

January 2006 - the unamplified ZonePlayer ZP80, with analog and digital input and output connections to link a user's Sonos system to their traditional amplifier.

August 2008 - the ZonePlayer120 , replacing the ZP100, and the ZonePlayer90 , replacing the ZP80.

October 2008 - a free Controller app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, reducing the need for Sonos' separate controllers. Controller apps were later released for other IOS devices and for Android.

July 2009 - the CR200, a second handheld controller to replace the CR100, with a touch screen rather than the CR100's scroll wheel. Sales of the CR200 were discontinued in 2012. Existing CR200 controllers continue to operate, however there are reports of touchscreen failures which cannot be repaired.

November 2009 - the ZonePlayer S5 , the first independent Sonos-connected amplified speaker.

July 2011 - the Play:3, a second, smaller, amplified speaker in its Play lineup of smart speakers.

May 2012 - the SUB wireless subwoofer.

February 2013 - the PLAYBAR soundbar speaker.

October 2013 - the Play:1, a third, compact, smart speaker.

February 2015 - Sonos announced the limited edition Blue Note Play:1, a collaboration with Blue Note Records, which went on sale in March. There have been other similar Sonos releases, available for limited times, such as a Beastie Boys PLAY:5 and a series of Sonos Ones in five new colors developed by the Danish design firm HAY.

September 2015 - A new Play:5 speaker was announced, and pre-orders began in October.

March 2017 - the PLAYBASE, a soundbase to go under a television.

October 2017 - the Sonos One, a small connected speaker with voice control. A key feature of whole house systems starting in 2017 was the adoption of Amazon's Alexa as a third-party voice controller.

April 2018 - production of the Play:3 was discontinued, effective July 31.

June 2018 - the Sonos Beam, a soundbar with voice control, was announced.

August 2018 - An updated version of the Sonos Amp was unveiled, with a planned limited release in December.

March 2019 - A second-generation Sonos One, with Bluetooth LE connectivity, a faster processor, and more memory.

August 2019 - The first two products resulting from the IKEA-Sonos collaboration, called SYMFONISK, a small bookshelf speaker and a combination table-lamp/speaker, became available from IKEA.

September 2019 - The introduction of the first battery operated Sonos speaker called Move. The speaker is portable and has the rating of IP56 making it humidity, heat, and cold resistant. It uses an indoor charging base and claims to play up to 10 hours on a full charge. Sonos also announced the One SL, a version of its One without voice control, replacing the Play:1, and the Port, an updated version of the Connect, to add Sonos functionality into an existing, wired stereo system.

March 2021 - The introduction of the smallest battery operated Sonos speaker called Roam. The speaker is a smaller version of the Move carrying over the features such as portable, IP56 rated and durable. In the box is just the Roam and a USB charging cable and claims to play up to 10 hours on a full charge. There is a charging bases available similar to the Move, but sold separately.

September 2022 - Sonos launched the Sub Mini wireless subwoofer. The Sub Mini is cylindrical and is available in matte black or white, it can be paired with AirPlay-enabled Sonos speakers.

QWERTYUIOP of outside services supported

In April 2005, Sonos announced that its products could play music from Rhapsody, the first of many music services that its products would support. Starting in September 2006 Sonos supported Rhapsody from its own Controller without use of a PC. Subsequently, added services include:

Sirius XM

MOG

Spotify

QQ Music, with collaboration from Tencent

Amazon Cloud Player

Amazon Music

Apple Music Sonos devices support the Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant virtual assistants. Apple Siri is only supported through Apple's Home app.

Logo history

The word is a palindrome and the logo a rotational ambigram.