EXCLUSIVE: Sonos Looking For Tech Staff To Spearhead Headphone Sales
Sonos who are set to move into the headphone market as they struggle to hold onto market share in the networked speaker market, is looking for experienced mobile, GUI, Wi Fi & Network engineers ahead of their move into the headphone market.
Sonos who are under pressure believe that there is a market for a new range of headphones despite several major retailers around the world moving to deranged several headphone brands claiming the headphone market is “cluttered”.
Sonos believe that they can compete up against brands such as Sennheiser who earlier this month announced a move into the premium soundbar market, Sony, Bose, JBL, B&O and several other premium headphone brands.
Sonos whose speakers do not include Google voice integration and are only 16bit Vs 24 bit of many rival sound products believes that by integrating capabilities into their both a new headphone range and their speakers they will be able to upsell their existing Sonos customer with a pair of headphones.
At CES 2019 Sonos was criticised for not delivering virtual assistant technologies other than via Alexa with their Sonos One and Sonos Beam speakers and soundbar, the Company was initially expected in 2018.
The new Sonos over-the-ear headphones could arrive by 2020 and are set to be pitched at around $499. The only problem is that headphone brands such as Sennheiser are moving into the Sonos market with a superior soundbar offering while Harman is offering premium AKG and JBL headphones and a range of Harman Kardon speakers with virtual assistant technology built in.
The Surface Headphones feature Microsoft’s Cortana assistant, while the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones have integrations with the Google Assistant. Several other manufacturers offer over-the-ear or in-ear sets with similar support. Apple’s AirPods, for example, allow for interactions with Siri on a paired iPhone.
By 2020 Brands such as Bose and Harman will be delivering integrated headphone and sound systems which Sonos will have to compete with.
Neither Sonos or Rowett have commented for this story.
