Sonos are finally bringing the Google Assistant to their smart speakers

Credit: Sonos

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence has confirmed that Google's smart assistant will begin to roll out for Sonos One and Sonos Beam owners from next week.

In a letter to investors, Spence flagged the development as a highlight for the quarter.

He said "we’ve been working on this for quite a while and are thrilled to be rolling it 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. This feature will truly elevate the customer experience and marks the first time that consumers will be able to buy a single smart speaker and get to choose which voice assistant they want to use."

"We think giving consumers choice is always the right decision, and we anticipate this philosophy will be adopted in the industry over time."

Although a specific timeframe for the Australian has not yet been disclosed, this is surely good news for both Sonos One and Sonos Beam owners and those who have been holding off due to absence of Google Assistant.

When the Sonos One first launched in 2017, the company promised that Google Assistant support would come to their service-agnostic smart speaker in 2018. The company later revised that timeline to "early 2019".

At this year's CES, we spoke with Sonos' head of global marketing Michael Papish about the evolving capabilities of the Sonos One and the challenges of bringing Google Assistant to their platform.

According to Papish, "Long term, we have ways that we can imagine adding music services that are not natively supported to actually be supported. That being said, for our first release, the same as you did with Amazon, you're just going to see the ones that are supported. Our goal is that every service that is supported by the Assistant is also available on Sonos and therefore should be available via the voice assistant"

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.

Tags SonosGoogle AssistantSonos OneSonos Beam

Keep up with the latest tech news, reviews and previews by subscribing to the Good Gear Guide newsletter.
Fergus Halliday
Show Comments

Most Popular Reviews

Latest Articles

Resources

PCW Evaluation Team

Cate Bacon

Aruba Instant On AP11D

The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.

Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti

Aruba Instant On AP11D

Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.

Tom Pope

Dynabook Portégé X30L-G

Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.

Tom Sellers

MSI P65

This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.

Lolita Wang

MSI GT76

It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.

Featured Content

Product Launch Showcase

Don’t have an account? Sign up here

Don't have an account? Sign up now

Forgot password?