Sonos Puts Two Major Launches On Hold to Focus On Fixing App

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence has, once again, held his hands up and admitted that the rollout of the new Sonos app hasn’t gone to plan, and has revealed that the launch of two major new products have been postponed as a direct result.

During an earnings call on Wednesday, the Sonos boss followed up from his apologetic open letter to users by addressing the situation with the app to investors.

“We pour our heart and soul into everything we do, and we’re proud of what we build, and the way Sonos brings joy to our customers’ lives,” he explained. “That’s why it’s so painful to let customers down the way we have with our new app.

“The app situation has become a headwind to existing product sales, and we believe our focus needs to be addressing the app ahead of everything else. This means delaying the 2 major new product releases we had planned for Q4 until our app experience meets the level of quality that we, our customers and our partners expect from Sonos.”

It’s believed that one of those devices would have been a new flagship soundbar, codenamed ‘Lasso’, which was set to surpass the capabilities of the already highly-regarded Sonos Arc.

In the days and weeks after the new Sonos app went live in May, it soon became clear that the Santa Barbara brand had dropped a clanger, with message boards and Reddit awash with users armed with a barrage of complaints.

Spence stated in the call that bi-weekly updates have been rolling out to fix the issues and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

“We have been working tirelessly on fixing the bugs in the new app, adding back certain features, and exploring every option for improving the customer experience,” he explained.

He also laid out plans to reward existing users with a series of “enacting programs this quarter to both support and thank our customers and partners for sticking with us through this period and turn their dissatisfaction to delight.”

He stated that these programs will cost the company around $20 million to $30 million but stated the cost “in the short term” is “necessary to right the ship for the long term.”