Snips acquired by Sonos

[simplextech]

https://investors.sonos.com/news-and-events/investor-news/latest-news/2019/Sonos-Announces-Acquisition-of-Snips/default.aspx

I just learned of this.  Could make things very interesting if Sonos integrates the Snips AI into their speakers and provides local voice control integrations.  What you think?  Competitor to Alexa/Google or Sonos taking Snips AI off the market because of their existing Alexa/Google integration deals?

[lilyoyo1]

Google and Alexa have to big of a lead and too deep of pockets to truly make them a competitor. Voice assistant is a hard business. This shows with Microsoft's Cortana, Apples's Siri, and Samsung's Bixby. I just dont see Sonos being able to compete at their size.

What I do believe is that it protects them should google or Amazon (or both) try to hold their assistants hostage via licensing fees or usage. While they may not be able to turn lights on/off, they could still allow voice control to turn music on/off etc. 

 

[simplextech]

44 minutes ago, lilyoyo1 said:

While they may not be able to turn lights on/off, they could still allow voice control to turn music on/off etc. 

That's the part where I think it will get interesting.  I'm confident Sonos will add music/playback controls... now how much they scramble the API or how friendly they will be to us integrators is the big question.  Providing local integration to a voice assistant that can be integrated with systems like the ISY or Polisy without being tied to a cloud... now that will be interesting... or just a pipe-dream... have to wait and see.

[lilyoyo1]

Sonos has opened up alot over the years. With that said, I'm sure there will be something especially for the big players such as Control4, Crestron and savant

[simplextech]

15 minutes ago, lilyoyo1 said:

Sonos has opened up alot over the years. With that said, I'm sure there will be something especially for the big players such as Control4, Crestron and savant

Perhaps.  From the chatter of C4 people in the Sonos community I don't get the impression Sonos communicates well with anyone.  I keep seeing remarks about a refined local API for Sonos control but nothing has materialized but who knows.  The official API even being cloud based is still relatively new too so I can be hopeful.

[lilyoyo1]

2 hours ago, simplextech said:

Perhaps.  From the chatter of C4 people in the Sonos community I don't get the impression Sonos communicates well with anyone.  I keep seeing remarks about a refined local API for Sonos control but nothing has materialized but who knows.  The official API even being cloud based is still relatively new too so I can be hopeful.

It use to be much worse. They'd purposely push updates to break the unofficial hacks to keeps people from integrating. You don't see that as much anymore. The fact that they publish it the way they do is leaps forward. That's not to say there still isn't more that they can do. I started using their stuff more because they were becoming open.