Sonos is Working on Its Own Version of Siri

[CarlJ]

Another voice assistant? Isn't the market like saturated with them? Wouldn't it be cheaper to integrate a few and let people decide?

Sonos already supports Alexa and Google Home, you just have to enable one or the other in the menus and enter the appropriate credentials (or leave them both off and the microphone muted because you distrust them). So they've already done what your second sentence describes, if I understand your intent correctly. They're adding another choice, that's all theirs. Can't really guess at their angle on this - what is the win here? Are they paying licensing money to Amazon and Google? Is there some opportunity to data mine here? Or are they going to present it as a more secure option? I wish they'd work harder on getting good Siri integration, rather than rolling their own.

 

[delnerdo]

I just hope that Sonos won’t ram it down our throats by EOLing their current product line and raising prices.

(Proud owner of 10 Sonos units in 4 rooms with absolutely no desire for voice assistant tech.)

 

[MrGimper]

I don’t say this meanly but I don’t know anyone who uses voice assistants anymore.

When they first came out people were excited. Then it became a chore and they weren’t really improving. Still misunderstanding instructions. Still having a jerky response.

hen came bad stories that Amazon was sending recording snippets to real people to listen to them. Then people didn’t trust them anymore.

Then hacking, spying, Pegasus, ransomware, Facebook data all became bad stories.

I don’t think this damage can be fixed for a while. Maybe that’s good. Maybe we need to use our hands instead of asking a robot to do something. Maybe we need to talk to people more often again.

This post was too long to be haiku. My waifu is calling. She’s a real person.

I use Alexa for my Sonos, for my Hue lights, for my TV/Fire Sticks, for my Xbox, for my Hue heating, for my Ring doorbell, and my Blink cameras.

You need better friends

 

[ChromeAce]

Making everything smart is stupid. What’s next, my water bottle? Oh, wait…

 

[MrGimper]

I've disabled Alexa on my Sonos Ones and gone back to my Echo Dots.... purely because at the time you couldn't adjust the volume of Alexa vs the music volume of the speaker. If you had the music volume loud, and then later that evening you asked Alexa to turn the lights down, the whole street heard it. Not sure if that's fixed yet.

 

[saintmac]

Are they creating their own voice assistant from scratch? If so, sounds like a tall order and I wish them the best in that endeavor. Even Apple didn't create Siri, but purchased it from a company that was going to release it for iOS, Android, and Blackberry OS.

No they acquired Snips, a French , privacy focused voice assistant a couple of years ago

 

[Moonlight]

I don’t say this meanly but I don’t know anyone who uses voice assistants anymore.

When they first came out people were excited. Then it became a chore and they weren’t really improving. Still misunderstanding instructions. Still having a jerky response.

hen came bad stories that Amazon was sending recording snippets to real people to listen to them. Then people didn’t trust them anymore.

Then hacking, spying, Pegasus, ransomware, Facebook data all became bad stories.

I don’t think this damage can be fixed for a while. Maybe that’s good. Maybe we need to use our hands instead of asking a robot to do something. Maybe we need to talk to people more often again.

This post was too long to be haiku. My waifu is calling. She’s a real person.

Myopic view is myopic

 

[Veeper]

Why though? I’m only buying the SL versions of their speakers.

 

[dontwalkhand]

I don’t say this meanly but I don’t know anyone who uses voice assistants anymore.

When they first came out people were excited. Then it became a chore and they weren’t really improving. Still misunderstanding instructions. Still having a jerky response.

hen came bad stories that Amazon was sending recording snippets to real people to listen to them. Then people didn’t trust them anymore.

Then hacking, spying, Pegasus, ransomware, Facebook data all became bad stories.

I don’t think this damage can be fixed for a while. Maybe that’s good. Maybe we need to use our hands instead of asking a robot to do something. Maybe we need to talk to people more often again.

This post was too long to be haiku. My waifu is calling. She’s a real person.

Sounds like someone is using their voice assistants wrong. I use mine to turn on a light and definitely while driving. If you’re doing it any other way while driving you’re doing it wrong.

 

[blackhawk10]

Why? Stick to doing music well

 

[dtshaw82]

I think voice assistants are more useful if you decide to commit to it. We use Siri to control most of our home; music, TVs, lights, fans, outdoor lighting, cameras, internet router, sprinklers, humidifier, A/C etc. I find it pretty handy but there was a learning curve to get used to it. Now I love it.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Another voice assistant? Isn't the market like saturated with them? Wouldn't it be cheaper to integrate a few and let people decide?

This way, any data they obtain is their OWN to sell

 

[sidewinder3000]

I don’t say this meanly but I don’t know anyone who uses voice assistants anymore.

When they first came out people were excited. Then it became a chore and they weren’t really improving. Still misunderstanding instructions. Still having a jerky response.

hen came bad stories that Amazon was sending recording snippets to real people to listen to them. Then people didn’t trust them anymore.

Then hacking, spying, Pegasus, ransomware, Facebook data all became bad stories.

I don’t think this damage can be fixed for a while. Maybe that’s good. Maybe we need to use our hands instead of asking a robot to do something. Maybe we need to talk to people more often again.

This post was too long to be haiku. My waifu is calling. She’s a real person.

I don’t say this meanly, but that statement is unhinged from reality and almost the opposite of the truth. People literally use voice assistance billions of times a day. It is absolutely a huge part of the future of computing interfaces, and there is a ton of innovation still to come in this space. I don’t go through a day without making at least 20 requests to my voice assistant, Siri. Plus at least a dozen dictated texts or emails.

 

[sidewinder3000]

One of the things that makes Siri and Google and Amazon effective is that they literally have hundreds of millions (nay, billions) of devices using their voice assistants, so they have the numbers necessary to improve their services. With such a relatively low volume of devices, I think it will be hard for Sonos to compete on quality.

Also, it seems like a weird thing from a financial and marketing standpoint. Unless it is demonstrably better, somehow, than Alexa or Google or Siri, it’s not gonna get anyone to buy a Sonos over another speaker. And to make it really good they will have to spend a ton of money and development. So it just kind of seems like one of those vanity projects that maybe might not have the best strategic underpinning.

Unless, somehow, it is noticeably better than the other voice assistance. If they could pull that off, it would be interesting. Anything shy of that seems like kind of a weird endeavor.

 

[sidewinder3000]

Why would they?
Nobody really wants Siri

lmao

That’s statement isn’t really funny or true. Me and many millions of people use Siri every day and find it extremely helpful and productive.

 

[turbineseaplane]

That’s statement isn’t really funny or true. Me and many millions of people use Siri every day and find it extremely helpful and productive.

What's funny is subjective
Didn't mean to insult you personally.

Siri - to me (and many others here) pretty much sucks ass versus competitors and certainly what we'd all hoped it would be capable of, now a decade into existence.

Some laughs are good for levity around here

 

[joecomo]

Well they can - but I would say it is a bad idea

 

[joecomo]

I only do when driving or to control the lights from bed. Other than that, I find it mostly useless!

Try using it in another language than English - it will become even more useless then

 

[George Dawes]

I only use siri on an apple tv , even then it's hopelessly inaccurate

Maybe apple should start afresh and just leave siri where it belongs - the trash

 

[joecomo]

they want to be independent and avoid relying too much to gatekeepers, ie Google & Apple

Yes but that ship as sailed - if I buy a speaker I want it to integrate smoothly into whatever open framework there is.
I chose HEOS in the past (and at the time that wasn‘t a bad decision) - but the lack of Airplay2 integration really is annoying.

 

[yadmonkey]

Why would they?
Nobody really wants Siri

lmao

I work for myself and find Siri indispensable for quickly setting time/location based reminders. Timers are great, especially while cooking or using a jedi mind trick on your child. I use Siri all the damn time.

 

[Appleuser823]

Assistant? AI? The promise and lies that the companies go for and what we consumers fall for...

Its more hassle to use SIRI og Google or Amazon than to just use the phone because half the time they do the complete opposite and misunderstand and you have to get irritated.

Its like all new "tech" these days result in worse lives and more irritation. The promise to give you peace and more harmony in life compared to just use a little energy to get what you want hassle free.

 

[cyanite]

Then hacking, spying, Pegasus, ransomware, Facebook data all became bad stories.

I mean, now you're just listing random stories, mostly completely unrelated to voice assistants

 

[mw360]

One of the things that makes Siri and Google and Amazon effective is that they literally have hundreds of millions (nay, billions) of devices using their voice assistants, so they have the numbers necessary to improve their services. With such a relatively low volume of devices, I think it will be hard for Sonos to compete on quality.

Also, it seems like a weird thing from a financial and marketing standpoint. Unless it is demonstrably better, somehow, than Alexa or Google or Siri, it’s not gonna get anyone to buy a Sonos over another speaker. And to make it really good they will have to spend a ton of money and development. So it just kind of seems like one of those vanity projects that maybe might not have the best strategic underpinning.

Unless, somehow, it is noticeably better than the other voice assistance. If they could pull that off, it would be interesting. Anything shy of that seems like kind of a weird endeavor.

I think you might be underestimating how much of a problem it is for Sonos to be relying on 3rd party voice assistants just to make their products work as well as those 3rd parties’ products. They have the data on how many Sonos users are using Alexa/Google for core functions, versus using the app or buttons on the device. Clearly that data is telling them something they need to react to.

I have faith they’ll be able to impress. All they need to do is optimise for finding and playing the right music you asked for. Not worrying about whether you just asked for game scores or movie tickets or setting a timer. The others are terrible at this. If Sonos can focus, set the right expectations, and use the data they’ll have from years of playlisting they could make their products significantly more friendly to use than they already are. For all those other voice assistant tasks, there’s no reason they couldn’t continue to forward Alexa requests to Amazon.

 

[B/D]

Another voice assistant? Isn't the market like saturated with them? Wouldn't it be cheaper to integrate a few and let people decide?

Well, to be fair there isnt one really competent yet out there. They all are buggy, unreliable and sloppy, so Sonos has an opportunity here.