Interim Sonos CEO Tom Conrad said in an interview that two of the unpopular decisions the company made were deliberate, but the biggest problem was that it failed to understand how its products were used in the real world.Conrad said that Sonos would never have released the new app had it fully appreciated the difference between its lab testing environment and real homes … The disastrous story of the new Sonos app In May of last year, Sonos launched the company’s first headphones, the Ace, intended to compete with AirPods Max.The app needed to be updated to support these, and the company decided to use it as an opportunity for a ground-up rebuild, launching a completely new app just ahead of the launch.
Things did not go well.Customers were upset at the company removing much-loved features, and many owners of older Sonos speakers experienced connection problems and lag.Given that the whole idea of Sonos is an Apple-esque It Just Works, customers were understandably angry at the company – even more so when it turned out to break accessibility too.
Sonos initially downplayed the complaints, but CEO Patrick Spence subsequently emailed customers to apologize, and provide a timeline for fixes, subsequently making seven promises before leaving the company.Fellow board member Tom Conrad was appointed as interim CEO while the company looked for a permanent replacement.Two mistakes were deliberate Conrad told that the company deliberately did two things which he describes as “sort of a mistake.” First, it knew the new launch version of the app was missing functionality which wasn’t used by many, but was very important to those who did use it.
Second, it radically changed the UI, without fully appreciating how unpopular this would prove.But Sonos didn’t understand real-world use However, he says the biggest mistake of all was mistaking lab conditions for the real world.Things that were reliable in the lab were anything but in actual homes.
Conrad says the company’s failure was not that it didn’t care, but that it failed to properly test all these variables.Conrad may remain as CEO While his appointment was pitched as a temporary one, he indicates that he’d like to stay.9to5Mac’s Take While taking responsibility and explaining what went wrong is a start, it still seems astonishing that the company didn’t conduct more widescale testing in real-life setups before launching the new app.
It’s going to take a lot more time for the company to regain the trust of its longstanding customers.Highlighted accessories Anker 511 Nano Pro ultra-compact iPhone charger Spigen MagFit case for iPhone 16e – adds MagSafe support Apple MagSafe Charger with 25w power for iPhone 16 models Apple 30W charger for above Anker 240W braided USB-C to USB-C cable You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day.Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop.
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