This is a post we’ve been looking forward to writing for a while now. We’ve been hard at work over the past few years on the platform you all have been working with, and we’ve been thrilled to see the ways in which it’s been put to use. Today, at an event in New York City, we finally got to tell the world about the Sound Platform for the Connected Home, and talk about some of the incredible experiences that we’re all building, together, on top of it.
Our CEO, Patrick Spence, spoke about the “Sonic Internet”, how voice and sound is changing how the internet is perceived and controlled, and how Sonos will be central to that shift. Our platform, announced today, is key to our ability to lead in this time of change, and everything we talked about today has been enabled by it. Here’s a quick run down.
Alexa Integration with Sonos
Starting today, Sonos owners will be able to control their systems with an Amazon Echo, Dot, or other Alexa device. Ask for the Beatles in the Bedroom, or your local radio station in the kitchen. Sonos with voice control makes it easier and faster to enjoy great sounding music in your home. Using this beta integration, any Sonos speaker can be controlled simply by speaking to your Alexa device.
The Platform
You all have been developing on our platform for almost two years, and have helped us as we’ve grown and improved it. We were thrilled to announce today that in 2018 Sonos will officially open its developer platform and deliver APIs to any developer who wants to integrate with Sonos. This means that, starting next year, all kinds of new innovative integrations will start appearing for Sonos, with the experiences you’re building now leading the way. If you’ve built something great on our platform and want to release it, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Today we also rolled out a certification program so the highest quality experiences will have the ability to earn the “Works with Sonos” badge. This badge will help highlight to consumers the highest quality experiences on Sonos. As we grow our understanding of and capacity for certification, we won’t be able to certify a large number of partners. The goal to eventually make certification a submission-based process.
AirPlay 2.0
Sonos is bringing AirPlay 2.0 to its platform, available in 2018. You will be able to play sounds from devices in the Apple ecosystem on apps that support AirPlay, including content from YouTube and Netflix, in any or every room of the home. Having access to all the music and content in the world goes beyond on-demand services. Sonos listeners want to send all manner of sounds from their devices to the Sonos speakers, and we’re thrilled that we’ll give them that option next year.
Sonos One
Sonos One is the smart speaker for music lovers, unlocking voice control for your entire Sonos system. Start the music playing with voice, add songs to your playlist from the Sonos app, play music in a different room from your Spotify app —the experience is seamless. Amazon Alexa comes built-in, with support for multiple voice services coming in the future, including the Google Assistant in 2018.
As you can see, this was a big event for us, and we’re thankful for your patience and the help you’ve provided that has led to this moment.
We’re all just getting started.