Sonos will start selling a streaming box in the "coming months," according to The Verge. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that the company was working on a streaming device codenamed "Pinewood" back in 2023. He said it was going to cost between $150 and $200, but sources told the publication that it would set buyers back between $200 and $400 instead. To note, the Roku Streambar costs $130, while the Apple TV 4K with Wi-Fi costs $129.
During an earnings call last year, Sonos said that it was planning to launch two new products in the fourth quarter of 2024, but it had to push back their release until its app was fixed. Sonos' app broke after the company rolled out a major redesign last April that was supposed to make it easier to find and play different kinds of content. But the app was extremely buggy and was missing basic features, such as sleep timers and alarms. It's not quite clear if one of the delayed products was the streaming box, but the box, The Verge says, is "deep into development."
The streaming device will reportedly have an interface that can combine content from multiple services, including Netflix, Max and Disney Plus, in a single unified software experience. It will feature integrated Sonos Voice Control, but it will also come with a physical remote control with shortcuts for popular apps. For those with an expansive home theater setup, the box will apparently have multiple HDMI ports with passthrough capability, allowing users to plug in other devices they want to pair with their TVs, such as gaming consoles.
Sonos has also reportedly designed Pinewood to be able to wirelessly transmit TV audio to its own soundbars and other audio devices without lag. Plus, it will allow users to create their own surround system for TV viewing. Users will be able to designate two separate speakers as front left and right channels, for instance. For internet connectivity, The Verge says it will have both a gigabit ethernet port and Wi-Fi 7.
After a disastrous few months following its botched app overhaul, Sonos laid out a plan to win back customers' trust. One of the things it promised was to implement "ambitious quality benchmarks" at the beginning of a product development cycle. It also said that it's not going to release products before those standards are met, which presumably means that Pinewood is going through rigorous testing before it becomes available.
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