Sonos has just announced in a blog post that they will be delaying the release of their Google Assistant enabled headphones until 2019 as they “need a bit more time to get the experience right”.
Ever since they collaborated with Amazon’s Alexa, the company has assured customers that it would eventually support Google Assistant as well.
Originally the release of Google Assistant integrated speakers was slated to be released by the end of 2018, but clearly, that is no longer the plan.
They stated that they have “learnt a lot” through the process with Google, excited to see Google Assistant come to life on Sonos “excited to see Google Assistant come to life on Sonos” but haven’t released any info on how the integration would work.
The Alexa integration currently allows users to control Sonos speakers with Echo devices, while newer speakers including the One and Beam have Alexa built-in.
Likely, those voice-enabled speakers will be able to use Google Assistant instead of Alexa, and following from that it would make sense that Google Home devices like the Home Mini would be used to control Sonos speakers.
In addition to the delay, they also announced that they are recruiting beta testers to help “kick the tires” as they perfect the Google Assistant integration.
The testers will have to “commit to at least 14 hours of listening per week, use 10 voice commands daily, and respond to surveys within 72 hours”.
Sonos now says it will provide an update for the release of Google Assistant “in early 2019.”
