The new service, called Sonos Voice Control, is focused on controlling media content and the company’s devices, rather than serving up information in the style of Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri. Still, it marks an ambitious expansion for a company best known for sound bars and other audio accessories.
The service was part of a new lineup of products announced Wednesday that also included a new lower-cost sound bar aimed at TVs. The functionality, which Sonos claims is the most private on the market because data isn’t shared to the cloud or monitored by the company, will be added to existing Sonos devices via a software update on June 1.
Sonos Voice Control can manage music and video playback, adjust volume and allows users to specify which speakers in their home they want the audio to play on. Similar to the “Hey Siri” and “Hey Google” wake words used by rival systems, the Sonos technology can be activated by saying “Hey Sonos.” The service will launch first in the US and eventually roll out to France and other regions, the company said.
Sonos’s new Ray sound bar, meanwhile, will cost $279 — well below the price of its $449 Beam and $899 Arc models. It’s also releasing its Roam portable speaker in new blue, orange and green colours. The company is looking to push into other new areas to maintain growth. Sonos has long been working on wireless headphones to better compete outside of the home, for instance.
