One thing to sit up for: Sonos presently focuses on just one space — audio system. Nonetheless, the corporate has revealed that it desires to diversify beginning subsequent yr. Whereas it did not say what it desires to do subsequent, earlier bulletins and job postings might supply some hints.
In a fourth-quarter earnings name this week, the CEO of Sonos revealed that the corporate plans to broaden into 4 new product classes quickly. He mentioned the corporate will introduce the primary of those within the 2023 fiscal yr however disclosed no additional particulars.
Firm head Patrick Spence mentioned Sonos desires to maneuver into product classes “naturally adjoining” to its present forte — audio system. It additionally desires to broaden to new markets like Japan, India, and Latin America. Spence touted Sono’s monitor file of accelerating its market share when coming into new classes.
“Getting into new classes will additional diversify our enterprise,” he mentioned.
Headphones are in all probability probably the most obvious new space for the speaker firm. Bloomberg reported Sonos’s supposed entrance into that house in 2019, however its deliberate over-the-year headphones have but to enter the market. A pair of Sonos headphones can be a pure addition to the corporate’s whole-home audio techniques and audio sync software program.
One among Sonos’s upcoming services or products may very well be software-based. The corporate already has a music streaming service and an app for syncing audio throughout audio system. In March, Protocol wrote that Sonos is hiring employees, together with builders with Android expertise, to work in UX for a “Dwelling Theater OS.” The position would contain delivering content material throughout telephones, TVs, and tablets. The itemizing additionally talked about a {hardware} distant.
Sonos may very well be trying to broaden its present audio companies onto extra units, or it may very well be planning to maneuver into video streaming — its first try to step outdoors its audio-related consolation zone.
Any future {hardware} from Sonos will doubtless contain know-how from its latest acquisition, Mayht Holding BV. Mayht’s audio transducer know-how ought to assist Sonos pack higher-quality sound into extra compact audio system in varied settings like desks, vehicles, and transportable.
A lot information concerning Sonos has concerned its long-running authorized battle with Google. After the 2 corporations cooperated over a decade in the past, Sonos accused Google of utilizing its know-how as a springboard for its common good audio system. The pair have traded lawsuits over patents ever since.