Sonos Backpedals, Will Let Legacy Products Live Longer

Sonos pissed a lot of people off earlier this week when they announced that select legacy products would no longer be supported come this May. The announcement for that change was probably made worse by the additional news that those older legacy products would stop your other, modern Sonos devices from seeing new software updates too. It’s all been one big disaster of a week for Sonos.

Today, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence responded to the criticism, saying that they have some ideas on how to keep everyone happy and their Sonos products working.

In the letter showing up in Sonos owner inboxes, Spence says that you should understand that they are not forcing any of your Sonos goods into obsolescence. For your legacy products that were due to be retired, they still aren’t going to get new software features, but the goal now is to at least provide bug fixes and security patches to them “as long as possible.”

As for the issue with legacy products holding back modern products, Spence says that they are “working on a way to split your system so that modern products work together and get the latest features.” That’s big news, because there were a whole bunch of us not happy with this idea that our still-supported devices might be left behind. The details there are still being finalized and they hope to share more in the coming weeks.

Should Sonos run into issues that they can’t find a fix for, they will “work to offer an alternative solution.” I’m hoping that means bigger discounts on replacement products than the 30% off Trade Up program currently offers.

Be sure to read the full letter below if you own Sonos products that were going to be affected in May.

All Sonos products will continue to work past May

We heard you. We did not get this right from the start. My apologies for that and I wanted to personally assure you of the path forward:

First, rest assured that come May, when we end new software updates for our legacy products, they will continue to work just as they do today. We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away. Many of you have invested heavily in your Sonos systems, and we intend to honor that investment for as long as possible. While legacy Sonos products won’t get new software features, we pledge to keep them updated with bug fixes and security patches for as long as possible. If we run into something core to the experience that can’t be addressed, we’ll work to offer an alternative solution and let you know about any changes you’ll see in your experience.

Secondly, we heard you on the issue of legacy products and modern products not being able to coexist in your home. We are working on a way to split your system so that modern products work together and get the latest features, while legacy products work together and remain in their current state. We’re finalizing details on this plan and will share more in the coming weeks.

While we have a lot of great products and features in the pipeline, we want our customers to upgrade to our latest and greatest products when they’re excited by what the new products offer, not because they feel forced to do so. That’s the intent of the trade up program we launched for our loyal customers.

Thank you for being a Sonos customer. Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. I hope that you’ll forgive our misstep, and let us earn back your trust. Without you, Sonos wouldn’t exist and we’ll work harder than ever to earn your loyalty every single day.

If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Patrick

Patrick Spence
CEO, Sonos