Thursday, January 23, 2020

Sonos Walks Back Plan To Brick Older Devices

Santa Barbara-based Sonos has walked back plans it had to essentially force its users with older Sonos devices to either "brick" and upgrade those devices, or to be locked out from any further updates of software--even on their newest equipment. In a letter to users on Thursday, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence apologized to users, saying that "all Sonos products will continue to work past May", apologizing for the company's earlier announcements, which had implied that older Sonos gear would no longer be usable after May. Instead, Spence assured customers that "when we end new software updates for our legacy products, they will continue to work as they do today. We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away." Spence admitted that the company "did not get this right from the start" and in particular, said it had heard its customers on the issue of letting legacy products and modern products work together in the same home. In an explanation, Spence said it is working on a way to "split" users systems, so that modern products will work together and get the latest features--but that legacy products will still work and remain in their "current state". Sonos had drawn fire for what was perceived as an attempt to force its users to brick their older devices and upgrade to all new equipment.