The new Sonos Ace headphones are already a flop with investors who were told that the new offering would boost sales now dumping the Companies stock.
Initially, Sonos was punting on between 2,500 and 3,000 products a day in global sales, but according to insiders and manufacturing partners in Asia, the business is only doing a tenth of what was predicted with the negativity around the Company due to the failure of their Sonos app having an impact on both their speaker, soundbar and headphone sales.
Bloomberg has reported that that Sonos’s stock is down 32% this year, while the rest of the S&P 500 Index is up by 13%, and instead of raking in cash from new products the Company has been forced to throw millions at trying to hose down problems caused by the app disaster.
More concerning for analysts is the slump in sales of their speakers, with several retailers now cutting back on Sonos orders as angry consumers who purchased a new Sonos speaker this year, finding that they cannot access key features due to problems with the app.
Management at the US audio Company has also moved to moved to lay off staff as calls are made for the sacking of CEO Patrick Spence.
Also delayed is the companies attempt to try and enter the content streaming market with a Hubbl-style set-top-box which some insiders claim could get dropped because the Company is burning through cash trying to fix their current t mess.
The Company was also planning to release a new Arc soundbar.
The core problem is that the new app that was released three months ago is a disaster, and the business is struggling to re code much of the app’s functions.
After apologising to customers back in July the business initially planned to issue fortnightly app updates but those have been few and far between.
Analysts claim that the app issue isn’t the only software concern we’ve seen in 2023, Sonos eventually admitted that there was a problem with Dolby Atmos on its Arc soundbars after many months of upset customers talking about it on forums; the initial response to concerns over the app issues was similarly dismissive claims Tech Radar.
According to marketing executives at IFA 2024 the business has not only lost brand credibility they are also losing both new and potentially new customers.
“They are not the brand they use to be existing customers are not happy because of the hopeless mess the Company are in and potential new customers have read the publicity surrounding the Company and are moving onto other products” they said.
