Sonos Ups the Ante with Free-Content Software, iPhone Controller App

October 28, 2008 By Nancy Klosek

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Wireless multi-room music system company Sonos is releasing today its Sonos Software 2.7 update, together with a free program it will make available for download beginning at some point today through Apple’s iTunes App Store that will enable Sonos owners to control their entire system, and the content playing in each room, from an iPhone or an iTouch.

Sonos 2.7, according to Phil Abram, the company’s president and COO, will give system owners access more free music content than before – including 15,000 Internet-streamed radio stations, and all the content available through both the last.fm and Pandora music services. “Ease of access is what our real differentiator is in the market, along with simple navigation,” he said. “Also, anyone who bought our system, say, as far back as April 2005, will be able to have the same access to this content with the free software download,” he added. “Our system consists of products that just keep getting better over time. There’s no quick march to obsolescence.”

The company, said Abram, sells through about 1,500 storefronts including regional retailers and Best Buy, as well as through direct sale and via the custom integrator channel.

“As new-home sales have slowed,” said Abram, “our system presents a great retrofit opportunity.” He pointed out that setup for five music zones in the New York hotel suite where the iPhone controller software was being demo’ed last week was done in just 35 minutes. “Our dealers only tend to get callbacks not for complaints or fixes, but to add more rooms of music,” he said.

A two-minute video explaining the functionality of the iPhone application is available on the Web at www.sonos.com/iphone.