CEO of Sonos says that a cheap echo dot rival is ‘exactly what we are not going to do’ as they don’t want to make the same mistake twice.
CEO Of Sonos Says That a Cheap Echo Dot Rival Is ‘Exactly What We Are Not Going To Do’
If you are a fan of Sonos who has been hoping that the company would launch a cheap and small wireless speaker to help rival others in the industry such as the amazon echo dot, it seems that you are much more likely to be disappointed.
Patrick Spence who is the CEO of Sonos conducted an interview with Time just recently. And in the interview, he talked about some of the mistakes that he has so far seen during his career and he brought up the likely potential for a budget Sonos speaker or let’s say the lack of potential.
CEO Of Sonos Interview With Times
In the interview, Spence told Time: “When Amazon and Google jumped in with small $25 speakers, there was a faction inside Sonos that said, ‘We can build a better $25 speaker than those companies.’ I said, ‘That’s exactly what we’re not going to do because I’ve seen this movie before.’”
The movie Spence was referring to in the interview is what he saw at RIM, which is the maker of the blackberry a place where he worked during the launch of Apple’s iPhone. And when he was asked about the blackberry storm which was the company’s failed attempt to create a touchscreen to rival the iPhone, Spence said that “In hindsight, RIM should have built the next best BlackBerry and not a response to the iPhone. With Storm, we threw away a decade of customer loyalty and a lot of our reputation for great products. That did make me paranoid about how Sonos should respond to competitive threats.”
Other Aspects Sonos CEO Pointed Out To
Spence also pointed out that Sonos did respond to the launch of smart speakers in the industry, but they did so by joining them instead of beating them: “We leveraged services they provide, such as by offering their voice assistants on a very innovative Sonos speaker that can support multiple assistants.”
The CEO also said that “we didn’t respond by competing directly with those companies and betraying everything we’re about.” That being said, it simply means that feels strong about his point.
