Sonos’ Failed App Launch Highlights Need for Open Systems to Drive Collaborative Innovation in the Consumer Electronics Market

Sonos is under fire after a failed app launch last year caused a spiral of growing dissatisfaction among its customer base. In May 2024, the company launched a mobile app update, the Sonos S2 controller app, to offer a more uniform and simplified user interface. However, the app was met with harsh criticism from customers experiencing bug issues, sluggish performance, and broken application features. These continuing issues have forced Sonos to delay the launch of two major products, exacerbating what is already a crisis situation for the company as its stock price fell by 53% over the last year.

The Sonos S2 app aimed to create a faster and more customizable experience for users, setting a precedent for future innovation, but ended with disconnecting audio systems, unresponsive volume controls, and entire music libraries missing. Increasing customer complaints resulted in the resignation of Chief Executive Officer ()CEO Patrick Spence and the layoff of around 300 employees since July of last year. Sonos has faced criticism in the past with its compatibility issues after major software updates. The transition from the S1 to S2 app left some devices only compatible with the S1 app unable to integrate with the newer software, leading to unhappy customers who quickly found themselves with outdated audio setups.

While a botched app launch is not ideal, the main cause of concern is the app’s compatibility issues and the inability of the company to roll back to previous versions. Sonos’ proprietary app supports all existing S2 products, meaning that those that have been updated now face severe useability issues. The company initially reported plans to re-release the old functional version of the S2 app; however, after various updates to the software that runs on its hardware and cloud services, Sonos announced that this was not possible and would make the situation worse. The result is that countless devices are effectively unusable by its customers, bricked by a loss of software and cloud service capabilities.

The failed app launch and subsequent customer retention issues have curbed the company’s product sales, which have already been slowing over the last few years. The company saw a 12% drop in sales between 2021 and 2023, and the expectation is that this will continue to fall, given these circumstances. The environmental impact is also considerable, with unusable devices creating potentially millions of tons of e-waste. The severity of the position Sonos finds itself in is significant, with the possibility of the company closing shop without a buyer increasingly likely, particularly for a company competing with Apple, Amazon, and Bose.

Sonos’ redesigned S2 mobile app and new web app indicates a company shift of focus from hardware to software innovation. This shift to an integrated software-centric approach reflects a general trend throughout the Consumer Electronics (CE) industry, yet highlights the potential repercussions of software rollout issues and the implication on the life span of existing hardware devices. Sonos’ prioritization of software development without backward compatibility puts it at risk of older product models becoming obsolete if they are unable to support new software updates. Given an increasing consideration for the environment in purchasing decisions, Sonos must ensure it considers the sustainability implications of software rollouts to retain brand loyalty and ensure compliance with growing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulation. Companies that balance software innovation and support for legacy products will be more likely to retain customers.

The evidence of numerous botched software rollouts points to poor management of basic software development and customer experience. The use of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools can play a significant role in avoiding these kinds of issues. ALM helps provide a structured framework for managing the entire software development and deployment lifecycle, enabling critical capabilities for software requirements management, performance testing, quality assurance, and bug tracking to enable faster and more reliable updates for users.

The current circumstances at Sonos serve as a warning to the rest of the CE industry. Relying on a proprietary, closed system is unsustainable both from the perspective of product innovation and waste issues if hardware is not compatible with new software updates. The industry must look toward creating an open-source model that enables an ecosystem of technology providers contributing to one resilient and interoperable solution. This will enable a faster rate of innovation and time to market, while providing an optimal service to the end user.