
Sonos finally is bringing the Google Assistant to its smart speakers: The company announced as part of its earnings report Thursday that Assistant support will be rolling out next week.
“Through a software upgrade, Sonos One and Beam will support the Google Assistant in the U.S., with more markets to come over the next few months,” the company said in its letter to investors.
A spokesperson declined to share additional details on the timing Assistant support for legacy Sonos speakers, saying that the company would share more next week, but CEO Patrick Spence suggested that this functionality was definitely coming as well: “If you have a Google Home device, you will be able to use that to control your Sonos,” Spence said.
Voice control via Google Assistant has been a long time coming for Sonos. Sonos first announced that it was working with Google when it introduced the Sonos One speaker in late 2017.
Related Stories
VIP+Generative AI Fueling ‘Exponential’ Rise in Celebrity NIL Rip-Offs: Exclusive Data

As Grammy Voting Begins, the Recording Academy Has Added More Than 3,000 Female Voters in Five Years
At the time, the company said that it was aiming to roll out support for the Google Assistant in 2018. However, in a blog post published in November, Sonos admitted that it was going to miss that deadline. Sonos began beta-testing Google Assistant with a subset of its users earlier this year.
Popular on Variety
Sonos announced the Google Assistant launch as part of its fiscal Q2 2019 earnings report, which surpassed analyst expectations. Sonos generated some $210 million during its fiscal second quarter, which ended on March 30. That’s up 13% from the first 3 months of 2018, when the company had $186.7 million in revenue.
Analysts had expected losses of $0.43 per share on revenue of $206.3 million for the quarter. The company’s share price was up around 3.4% in after-hours trading.
Sonos once again saw the biggest growth in its home theater segment, where it sold $89 million worth of devices in the quarter. This was largely driven by the Beam, a compact sound bar with integrated microphones, which led to a 57% increase in home theater speaker products sold.
Traditional speaker sales on the other hand declined, with Sonos selling 16% fewer of these devices than during the same quarter last year. The company attributed this to the discontinuation of the Play:3 speaker, as well as fewer sales of its entry-level Play:1 speaker. The number of devices sold altogether was almost flat year-over-year. Sonos sold a total of 785,291 products during the quarter, which was up just 1% year-over-year.
Interestingly, Sonos spent significantly less on marketing during the quarter, which helped the company to reduce overall costs. Part of that seems to be due a shift to online marketing, but Sonos is apparently also banking on Ikea to become a major ambassador for its brand.
The Swedish furniture giant is scheduled to launch 2 smart speakers powered by Sonos in August, which will be shown in its stores in a home-like setting. “They get 1.3 billion shoppers a year through their stores,” Spence said Thursday about Ikea. In addition to reaching new consumers in existing markets, Sonos also wants to use the chain as a way to evaluate new territories, and then double down on those countries where Ikea’s speakers sell well, Spence explained.
Read More About:
Jump to CommentsMore from Variety

Australia Proposing to Ban Children From Social Media, Joins Wave of Asian Government Crackdowns on Platforms

What Lionsgate’s Partnership Deal With Runway Means

Meta Announces Ban on Russian State Media, Citing Deceptive Influence Operations

Hollywood’s Next Superhero: Purpose-Led Branding
Most Popular
Luke Bryan Reacts to Beyoncé’s CMA Awards Snub: ‘If You’re Gonna Make Country Albums, Come Into Our World and Be Country With…

Donald Glover Cancels 2024 Childish Gambino Tour Dates After Hospitalization: ‘I Have Surgery Scheduled and Need Time Out to Heal’

‘Joker 2’ Ending: Was That a ‘Dark Knight’ Connection? Explaining What’s Next for Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker

‘Love Is Blind' Creator Reveals Why They Didn’t Follow Leo and Brittany After Pods, if They'll Be at Reunion (EXCLUSIVE)

Rosie O'Donnell on Becoming a 'Big Sister' to the Menendez Brothers, Believes They Could Be Released From Prison in the ‘Next 30 Days’

‘That ’90s Show’ Canceled After Two Seasons on Netflix, Kurtwood Smith Says: ‘We Will Shop the Show’

Coldplay’s Chris Martin Says Playing With Michael J. Fox at Glastonbury Was ‘So Trippy’: ‘Like Being 7 and Being in Heaven…

Why Critically Panned ‘Joker 2’ Could Still Be in the Awards Race for Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix

Dakota Fanning Got Asked ‘Super-Inappropriate Questions’ as a Child Actor Like ‘How Could You Have Any Friends?’ and Can ‘You Avoid Being a Tabloid…

Charli XCX Reveals Features for ‘Brat’ Remix Album Include Ariana Grande, Julian Casablancas, Tinashe and More

Must Read
- Film
COVER | Sebastian Stan Tells All: Becoming Donald Trump and Starring in 2024’s Most Controversial Movie
By Andrew Wallenstein 2 weeks
- TV
Menendez Family Slams Netflix’s ‘Monsters’ as ‘Grotesque’ and ‘Riddled With Mistruths’: ‘The Character Assassination of Erik and Lyke Is Repulsive…

- TV
‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Part 2 to Air on CBS After Paramount Network Debut

- TV
50 Cent Sets Diddy Abuse Allegations Docuseries at Netflix: ‘It’s a Complex Narrative Spanning Decades’ (EXCLUSIVE)

- Shopping
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Sets Digital and Blu-ray/DVD Release Dates

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Variety Confidential
ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXKFjp2goKGklrlwusSwqmirn6O8tHnGqKagpJVirrS%2FyKyrmqakYn5zfJJraGlqZ2V8