Sonos reportedly delays set-top box due to app update issues

The fallout continues. First Sonos said it was delaying two new products slated to launch this year because of a botched app update that left users without key features. Now comes word that Sonos is delaying its much-rumoured set top box for the same reason.

Last month, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence acknowledged the issues caused by the new Sonos app, and said the firm would delay two "major product releases" for late 2024 until the app was up to scratch. Now Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman reports that Sonos's set-top box has been pushed back from January 2025 to March.

It's not known whether the set-top box was one of these two products and has been delayed again, or if this is a fresh delay. But either way, it's not good news for the firm, or its customers.

The Sonos app was redesigned in April to coincide with its first pair of wireless headphones, the Sonos Ace . The headphones turned out to be something of a sonic disappointment, earning just three stars from us. And the app was even worse, plagued by bugs and missing key features such as sleep timers, alarms and the ability to queue songs. The backlash was swift and vicious, with customers taking to forums and Reddit to vent their fury.

The debacle has cost Sonos big. The firm has cut jobs in an effort to mitigate the financial loss, and the reputational damage has been even more severe. To make matters worse, its Ace headphones are reportedly not selling as well as hoped. Sonos planned on selling between 900,000 and 1 million units a year, but that has been slashed to just 90,000 to 100,000 annually – a tenth of the projected figure.

The set-top box in question is said to be a Roku-style device codenamed Pinewood (presumably after the British film studio). It will be up against the Apple TV 4K at the high end, and the Google TV Streamer and Amazon Fire TV Stick at the lower end. Let's hope Sonos fares better in this new market...

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