Sonos announces Alexa-controlled wireless speakers

Alexa is officially the first voice assistant to be available on Sonos, a move that turns the wireless speaker product into a voice-controlled sound system.

Originally announced a year ago, Sonos has been working “day and night” with Amazon to implement the features.

Alexa on Sonos will be available as a beta software update today. You will be able to control your speakers using Amazon Alexa-compatible devices including the Echo and the Dot.

The update will be available in the US, UK, and Germany.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence calls this new platform the “Sonic Internet” and complained of “default speakers” in entry-level devices that didn’t work seamlessly with Alexa and each other.

“Music is one of the most used features with Alexa,” said Tom Taylor, SVP, Amazon Alexa, in New York today. The new Sonos integration allows you to ask Alexa to “play the new Killers song” and Alexa will find it.

Sonos now supports 80 music services and works together with Spotify and now Alexa. Further, the company is partnering with home CE providers like Crestron, Logitech, and Smartthings to add different interaction elements to the Sonos experience. In 2018 the company plans to open the Sonos API to developers and today they also announced a “Works With Sonos” badge to allow outside vendors to connect with the in-home devices.

The developer portal goes live today.

Sonos now supports AirPlay 2 which will allow you to send sound from your iOS device to your speakers. This implementation will also let you control your Sonos with Siri. This feature will launch next year. Today also marks the launch of a new Sonos app with an improved interface.