Lessons From Apple And Sonos' 'Smart Speaker Competition'

It is absolutely true that the marketplace out there is a dog-eat-dog world. After Apple launched the HomePod smart speaker model, the US technology company was forced to declare war on a series of technology companies, including Sonos, a company specializing in audio manufacture.

Source: Audio Express

In recent years, the virtual assistant market has become more and more vibrant with the presence of giants including Amazon, Google, Sonos and, recently, Apple. And Sonos has implemented a great strategy to confront Apple in the smart speaker market.
In recent years, smart speakers have become a new trend in the tech world. Google launched Google Home, its own smart speaker and virtual assistant, while Amazon launched the next version of its Echo speaker, and Sonos has the Sonos One smart speaker model that has been widely praised. The technology market is hotter than ever when Sonos decides to lower the price of Sonos One to compete directly with Apple.

Source: Mashable

Sonos Ones launched on October 24, 2017 with a price of $200. Before Apple introduced the HomePod smart speaker on February 9, 2018 for $349, Sonos immediately reduced the price of its product. The company specializing in manufacturing audio equipment posted on Twitter: “Two is better than one. Buy two Sonos One speakers for only $349 USD.” With this message, Sonos indeed declared war on Apple in this market. For the same amount of $349, you will own two Sonos Ones instead of just one Apple HomePod. Of course, this discount is only valid for a limited time on January 26, 2018.
Apple intended to launch a wireless smart speaker by the end of 2017 but it was delayed until February 2018.

Source: Digital Trends

The Sonos One speaker, in addition to being integrated with the Alexa virtual assistant, also allows users to stream music over a wifi connection, and according to Sonos, it currently supports more than 80 services. Among these include Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Amazon Music, SoundCloud, Deezer, etc. This smart speaker line also supports connecting with other Sonos speaker models, thus allowing users to set up a multi-room audio system.
You can pair 2 speakers together to create a great sound system for your home. With the marketing strategy from Sonos, will Apple have new tricks to respond or will they lose in this thrilling "smart speaker race"?
H/T: Bloomberg