Sonos is launching the voice assistant on June 1, according to a post by The Verge on Wednesday. The publication quoted “people familiar with the company’s plans”as saying the feature will bring voice control to Sonos’ home audio products.
A Sonos spokesperson told Ars Technica that the company does not comment on rumors or speculation when asked to comment.
Currently, Sonos products such as Bluetooth speakers and soundbars support Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Now, the company is reportedly interested in equipping its products with its own voice assistant.
“All Sonos products running the company’s S2 software will support Sonos voice control,”according to The Verge.
In addition to its unnamed sources, the publication cited a Jobilize and Snagajob job posting for a software test engineer who will work on the Voice Experience team and “design, develop, and expand the Sonos Voice Experience automated testing infrastructure.”
“At the Sonos Voice Experience team, we are developing the future of voice interaction for audio content, our goal is to make voice interaction completely private, more personal and more natural,” the listing reads. “The Voice QA team will have a lasting impact on the quality and standards of the music experience provided to our millions of customers around the world.”
The Verge said Sonos’ voice assistant will let you tell your speaker to “play specific songs, artists, or playlists using voice commands, among other features.”Initially, the voice assistant will be compatible with Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, Deezer and Sonos Radio, but Spotify and YouTube Music are not yet partners, according to The Verge.
Freedom from sworn enemies?
It’s worth noting that the Sonos website, which doesn’t list a Voice Experience job, also has a job for a Software Engineer who will work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant integration on Sonos speakers. So, at least for now, it doesn’t look like Sonos will immediately ditch their current voice assistants, which would make sense given the popularity of AI.
However, the “code footprint” protocol discovered in November also points to the Sonos voice assistant, suggesting that the Sonos and Google Assistant function cannot be used simultaneously in the same product.
But what, assuming it’s real, will Sonos Voice offer beyond the better-known Alexa or Google Assistant?
According to The Verge, in addition to adding “Hey Sonos”to your list of frequently used phrases, “the company’s internal tests show it’s faster than competing ancillary services for basic musical tasks.”
The job posting also says that the voice service will be “completely private,”although details were not disclosed. But if Sonos can find a way to make the microphone private — or at least more so than Amazon and Google do — it will be profitable.
For Sonos, that would mean more freedom with regard to voice services in its products, and perhaps even the hope that one day it won’t be tied to sworn enemies of Google and Amazon. Sonos was unhappy with both, despite having partnered with the companies over the years. As noted by The Verge, this includes suing Google for patent infringement, accusing Amazon of the same, and reporting to Congress that Google is engaging in anti-competitive business practices.