Sonos App Debacle Leaves Company Racing to Save Its Reputation
A flawed software release has users of the company’s high-end audio speakers tearing their hair out. Time is running out to stop them from leaving forever.
The app disharmony has meant slower sales.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Sonos Inc. has a loyal user base for its high-end audio speakers. Unfortunately, a disastrous software launch has angered customers and jeopardized the company’s reputation, and the window to fix the problem is closing rapidly.
The release in May of a new app that controls the speakers was meant to have been the culmination of Chief Executive Officer Patrick Spence’s grand plan to refresh the company’s infrastructure and expand into a greater share of the $100 billion audio market, of which it estimates it controls less than 2%. The existing Sonos app was struggling to handle all the demands of the modern-day audiophile, who wants to listen to sound from various sources, both local and in the cloud, across multiple devices and rooms. Spence said “performance and reliability issues” had crept in over time.