Sonos CEO Patrick Spence published a statement to the company"s blog, apologizing for a decision made earlier this week in which the company stated that some of its older products will stop receiving software updates or new features in May. The decision was received with much dismay by longtime customers as they believed that the company was forcing them to buy new products.
Thanks for all the feedback & my apologies for not responding sooner. I wanted to make sure we get it right. All Sonos products will continue to work past May: https://t.co/bmwQQgPd86
— Patrick Spence (@Patrick_Spence) January 23, 2020
The announcement, which starts off with "We heard you," says that the company would continue delivering updates to all products "for as long as possible." The company did not retract the announcement made earlier this week and has stated that the older devices have been taken to their technological limits. Sonos says that the plan needed to be put into place because older hardware would not be able to support the latest software, iterating that it will keep offering security patches and bug fixes for older products.
However, if a single speaker in a system is unable to receive software updates, users would need to set up two speaker groups to permit the speakers to be correctly updated. Devices that do not receive updates will eventually stop working. The legacy products affected by the change include four models, including the original Sonos Play:5, Zone Players, and Connect / Connect:Amp devices. These devices were sold between 2006 and 2015. The company is offering a 30% discount to affected customers if they wish to recycle their old speakers by buying newer products.
Via BBC