It’s been a busy couple of months for good audio system — Amazon launched a bunch simply this week, together with up to date variations of its present Echo {hardware} and a brand new Echo Studio with premium sound. Sonos additionally launched its first transportable speaker with Bluetooth help, the Sonos Move, and in August launched its collaboration assortment with Ikea. Meanwhile, Apple didn’t say something in regards to the HomePod at its newest huge product occasion — an omission that makes it all of the extra apparent the good transfer can be for Apple to accumulate an organization that is aware of what they’re doing on this class: Sonos.
Highly aligned
From an outsider perspective, it’s exhausting to search out two firms that appear extra philosophically aligned than Sonos and Apple in relation to product design and enterprise mannequin. Both are clearly centered on delivering premium {hardware} (at a worth level that’s usually on the increased finish of the mass market) and each use providers to enhance and complement the attraction of their {hardware}, even when Apple’s been shifting that blend a bit with a fast-growing providers enterprise.
Sonos, like Apple, clearly has a robust focus and deep funding in industrial design, and places lots of effort into actually distinctive product feel and look that stands out from the gang — and is immediately identifiable as soon as you recognize what to search for. Even the corporate’s desire for a principally black and white palette feels distinctly Apple — not less than Apple main as much as the prior renaissance of multi-color palettes for a few of its extra in style units, together with the iPhone.
From a technical perspective, Apple and Sonos appear eager to work collectively — and the outcomes of their collaboration has been nice for customers who use each ecosystems. AirPlay 2 help is successfully commonplace on all fashionable Sonos {hardware}, and actually Sonos is actually the default selection already for anybody trying to do AirPlay 2-based multiform audio, because of the wide selection of choices accessible in numerous kind elements and at completely different worth factors. Sonos and Apple additionally provide an Apple Music integration for Sonos’ controller app, and now you need to use voice management by way of Alexa to play Apple Music, too.
Competitive strikes
The important challenge that an Apple-owned Sonos hasn’t made a lot sense prior to now, not less than from Sonos’ perspective, is that the speaker maker has reaped the advantages of being a platform that performs good with all the key streaming service suppliers and digital assistants. Recent Sonos audio system provide each Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant help, as an illustration, and Sonos’ software program has connections with nearly each main music and audio streaming service accessible.
What’s modified, particularly in gentle of Amazon’s slew of bulletins this week, is that opponents like Amazon are trying extra like they need to personal extra of the enterprise that at the moment falls inside Sonos’ area. Amazon’s Echo Studio is a brand new premium speaker that immediately competes with Sonos in a approach that earlier Echos actually haven’t, and the corporate has constantly been releasing better-sounding variations of its different, extra inexpensive Echos. It’s additionally been rolling out extra feature-rich multi-room audio options, together with wi-fi encompass help for house theater use — all issues squarely within the Sonos wheelhouse.

For now, Sonos and Amazon appear to be comfortably in “frenemy” territory, however more and more, it doesn’t seem to be Amazon is content material to depart them their higher-end market section in relation to the speaker {hardware} class. Amazon nonetheless most likely will do no matter it might to maximise use of Alexa, on each its personal and third-party units, however it additionally appears to be intent on strengthening and increasing its personal first-party machine lineup, with audio system as low-hanging fruit.
Other opponents, together with Google and Apple, don’t appear to have had as a lot success with their merchandise that line up as direct opponents to Sonos, however the speaker-maker additionally faces perennial challenges from hi-fi and audio trade stalwarts, and in addition appears prone to go up in opposition to newer machine makers with audio ambitions and clear price benefits, like Anker.
Missing substances/work to be achieved
Of course, there are some huge challenges and potential purple flags that stand in the way in which of Apple ever shopping for Sonos, or of that ensuing union figuring out nicely for customers. Sonos works so nicely as a result of it’s service-agnostic, as an illustration, and the important thing to its success with latest merchandise appears to even be integration with the good house assistants that folks appear to truly need to use most — particularly Alexa and Google Assistant.
Under Apple possession, it’s extremely attainable that Apple Music would not less than get preferential therapy, if not change into the lone streaming service on provide. It’s possible that Siri would exchange Alexa and Assistant as the one digital voice service accessible, and nearly unthinkable that Apple would proceed to help competing providers if it did make this purchase.
That mentioned, there’s most likely important overlap between Apple and Sonos clients already, and so long as there was some service flexibility (in the identical approach there’s for streaming opponents on iOS units, together with Spotify), then being locked into Siri most likely wouldn’t sting as a lot. And it could serve to present Siri the foothold at house that the HomePod hasn’t managed to supply. Apple would even be higher incentivized to work on enhancing Siri’s efficiency as a common home-based assistant, which might in the end be good for Apple ecosystem clients.
Another good adjacency
Apple’s larger acquisitions are few and much between, however the ones it does make are sometimes clearly adjoining to its core enterprise. A Sonos acquisition has a fairly sturdy precedent within the Beats buy Apple made in 2014, albeit with out the sturdy motivator of offering the underlying product and relationship foundation for launching a streaming service.

What Sonos is, nevertheless, is an inversion of the historic Apple mannequin of utilizing nice providers to promote {hardware}. The Sonos ecosystem is a good, simple to make use of, premium-feel technique of profiting from Apple’s music and video streaming providers (and model new video games subscription providing), all of that are extra vital than ever to the corporate because it diversifies from its monolithic iPhone enterprise.
I’m hardly the primary to counsel an Apple-Sonos deal is smart: J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee urged it earlier this yr, in reality. From my perspective, nevertheless, the timing has by no means been higher for this acquisition to happen, and the motivations by no means stronger for both get together concerned.
Disclosure: I labored briefly for Apple in its communications division in 2015-2016, however the above evaluation is predicated solely on publicly accessible data, and I maintain no inventory in both firm.