The story
Founded by John MacFarlane in 2002, in Santa Barbara.1
Corporate, financial, and marketing history
Sonos was founded as "Rincon Audio, Inc." in August 2002 by John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen and Trung Mai, with MacFarlane wanting to create a wireless service. The company changed its name to "Sonos, Inc." in May 2004.
During 2004, MacFarlane brought prototypes of the first Sonos products to several industry events, including the June 2004 "D2: All Things Digital" conference in Carlsbad, California and the December 2004 Digital Music Summit. It was reported that in D2 Steve Jobs told MacFarlane that the Sonos controller's scroll wheel might have violated Apple patents related to the iPod.
Sonos aimed to begin shipping its products in the fourth quarter of 2004 but missed that deadline. The company first introduced its products to the market in January 2005 and first shipped them in either January or March 2005.
In May 2005, Sonos announced that its initial product line would go on sale in the United Kingdom in the following month. The company has continued to broaden its international sales, for example to Japan in 2018.
In May 2012, Sonos opened the Sonos Studio in Los Angeles, a studio and art gallery in which art was exhibited along with Sonos' products for free, and featured events with artists like Beck, The Lonely Island and Solange, and released a video about its development. The Los Angeles location was closed in 2018; a London location remains open.
In December 2013, the company was estimated to have raised $118 million in venture funding, including a $25 million round; its investors included Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Redpoint Ventures and Elevation Partners. In April 2014, Google and Sonos introduced deep integration features that allowed users to play and control Google Play Music through Sonos devices.
In January 2015, Sonos was rebranded by Bruce Mau Design, with a new visual identity and improved logotype that was created over the span of four years, from 2011 to 2014. There have been other brand refreshes, including one in 2019.
In February 2016 Sonos also released a study called Music Makes it Home Study.
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In March 2016, CEO John MacFarlane announced the company's shift to focus on streaming music services and voice control instead of local playback, and laid off some employees.
In July 2016, the company opened its first Sonos Store in SoHo. Sonos announced the store's closure in June 2020.
In September 2016, the company announced that its products would become available at Apple Stores.
In January 2017, MacFarlane announced via the company's blog that he would be stepping down from his role as CEO, and that he would be succeeded in this position by former COO Patrick Spence.
In December 2017, IKEA and Sonos announced a collaboration to build Sonos' technology into furniture sold by IKEA. In May 2025, Sonos announced the partnership was ending.
In August 2018, Sonos went public, trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol SONO.
In November 2019, Sonos acquired Snips SAS, a privacy-focused AI voice platform for connected devices with the goal to bring a music-specific assistant to its devices.
In January 2020, Sonos sued Google over copyright infringement relating to several patents, including the ability to sync audio over multiple devices. In August 2021, a judge ruled in favor of Sonos. The International Trade Commission also ruled in favor of Sonos. As a result, Google was ordered to remove certain features from its devices, including group volume control.
Google was ordered to pay Sonos $32.5 million in damages. However, a judge tossed out the verdict in October and criticized Sonos for abusing the patent system. Following the verdict, Google redeployed the features it had previously removed.
In April 2020, Sonos revealed a new "sonic logo" composed by Philip Glass, featuring an ensemble of 21 musicians. The logo will be heard in the listening experience of Sonos Radio, an Internet radio streaming service that was unveiled by the company the same month.
In June 2020, Sonos announced plans to lay off 12% of its workforce, close its New York store and six of its offices, and cut its top executives' pay by 20% for three to six months, in response to the economic disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic.
In November 2020, Sonos launched "Sonos Radio HD", a paid ad-free tier of Sonos Radio.
In April 2022, Sonos acquired Mayht, a Dutch speaker-technology start-up co-founded by Timothy Scheek, for US$100 million. Mayht had developed a compact transducer design that Sonos later introduced as Sound Motion in its Arc Ultra soundbar in 2024.
In May 2023, Sonos reported a 24% drop in revenue. Sonos then laid off 7% of its workforce—130 employees—in June.
In August 2024, Sonos laid off another 100 employees. Several of its customers support locations will also close, including one in Amsterdam.
Product history
Products announced by Sonos (excluding several smaller or less-important ones) have been:
June 2004 – Sonos announced its first products—the Digital Music System consisting of two components, the ZonePlayer and the Controller (later renamed as the ZP100 and CR100, respectively)—then expected to be available in fall 2004. The products were introduced at the January 2005 Consumer Electronics Show. They first shipped either on January 27, 2005, or March 2005.
January 2006 – the unamplified ZonePlayer ZP80, with analog and digital input and output connections to link a user's Sonos system to their traditional amplifier.
August 2008 – the ZonePlayer120 (ZP120, later CONNECT:AMP), replacing the ZP100, and the ZonePlayer90 (ZP90, later CONNECT), replacing the ZP80.
October 2008 – a free Controller app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, reducing the need for Sonos' separate controllers. Controller apps were later released for other IOS devices and for Android.
July 2009 – the CR200, a second handheld controller to replace the CR100, with a touch screen rather than the CR100's scroll wheel. Sales of the CR200 were discontinued in 2012. Existing CR200 controllers continue to operate, however there are reports of touchscreen failures which cannot be repaired.
November 2009 – the ZonePlayer S5 (later PLAY:5), the first independent Sonos-connected amplified speaker.
July 2011 – the Play:3, a second, smaller, amplified speaker in its Play lineup of smart speakers.
May 2012 – the SUB wireless subwoofer.
February 2013 – the PLAYBAR soundbar speaker.
October 2013 – the Play:1, a third, compact, smart speaker.
February 2015 – Sonos announced the limited edition Blue Note Play:1, a collaboration with Blue Note Records, which went on sale in March. There have been other similar Sonos releases, available for limited times, such as a Beastie Boys PLAY:5 and a series of Sonos Ones in five new colors developed by the Danish design firm HAY.
September 2015 – A new ("2nd gen") Play:5 speaker was announced, and pre-orders began in October.
March 2017 – the PLAYBASE, a soundbase to go under a television.
October 2017 – the Sonos One, a small connected speaker with voice control. A key feature of whole house systems starting in 2017 was the adoption of Amazon's Alexa as a third-party voice controller.
April 2018 – production of the Play:3 was discontinued, effective July 31.
June 2018 – the Sonos Beam, a soundbar with voice control, was announced.
August 2018 – An updated version of the Sonos Amp was unveiled, with a planned limited release in December.
March 2019 – A second-generation Sonos One, with Bluetooth LE connectivity, a faster processor, and more memory.
August 2019 – The first two products resulting from the IKEA-Sonos collaboration, called SYMFONISK, a small bookshelf speaker and a combination table-lamp/speaker, became available from IKEA.
September 2019 – The introduction of the first battery operated Sonos speaker called Move. The speaker is portable and has the rating of IP56 making it humidity, heat, and cold resistant. It uses an indoor charging base and claims to play up to 10 hours on a full charge. Sonos also announced the One SL, a version of its One without voice control, replacing the Play:1, and the Port, an updated version of the Connect, to add Sonos functionality into an existing, wired stereo system.
March 2021 – The introduction of the smallest battery operated Sonos speaker called Roam. The speaker is a smaller version of the Move carrying over the features such as portable, IP56 rated and durable. In the box is just the Roam and a USB charging cable and claims to play up to 10 hours on a full charge. There is a charging base available similar to the Move, but sold separately.
September 2022 – Sonos launched the Sub Mini wireless subwoofer. The Sub Mini is cylindrical and is available in matte black or white, it can be paired with AirPlay-enabled Sonos speakers.
March 2023 – Sonos launched the ERA 100 and ERA 300 speakers. The latter features a unique design and support for spatial audio.
May 2024 – a major update to its mobile app that was widely criticized (see Controversies section). The Roam 2 was also released.
June 2024 - Sonos launched the Sonos Ace, its first foray into the wireless headphones space, with a "TV swap" feature that allows users to wirelessly send audio from a Sonos soundbar to the headphones for a private move listening experience.
October 2024 - Sonos launched the Arc Ultra Soundbar, the successor to the original Sonos Arc with an improved surround sound speaker array. It is the first sonos speaker that integrates a "sound motion" woofer, delivering a "vastly improved bass performance", according to Digital Trends. The Sonos Sub 4 was released in conjunction with this launch.
History of outside services supported
In April 2005, Sonos announced that its products could play music from Rhapsody, the first of many music services that its products would support. Starting in September 2006 Sonos supported Rhapsody from its own Controller without use of a PC. Subsequently, added services include:
Sirius XM (February 2011)
MOG (May 2011)
Spotify (July 2011)
QQ Music, with collaboration from Tencent (May 2012)
Tidal (March 2015)
Amazon Music (October 2015)
Apple Music (February 2016)
Sonos devices support the Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant virtual assistants. Apple's Siri is supported, but only through the Home app.
Logo history
The word is a palindrome and the logo a rotational ambigram.
From Wikipedia’s article on Sonos, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8