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| Sonos brings its acoustic technology to Audi cars |
Sonos has partnered with Audi to provide audio for the carmaker's Q4 E-Tron, the California Audio Corporation's first such partnership, known as home amplifiers.
After Audi published photos of the Q4 E-Tron cabin bearing the Sonos logo, Sonos President Patrick Spence confirmed the news.
Audi has released a series of photos showing the interior of its next-generation Q4 E-Tron electric car.
Although the German automaker has confirmed the presentation of the new AR, others have noticed the Sonos logo, although the cooperation between the two sides was not mentioned in the press release.
"We want to play a role in all the different categories of voice, many of which are in the car," Spence said during the question-and-answer session. Our first partnership with Audi was to transfer our audio expertise to the cars. I'd love to start with an Audi. You are very creative in this area and you can try it.
Sonos CEO and former CEO of RIM said that more details about the upcoming partnership with Audi will be announced at the E-Tron conference in the fourth quarter of April.
After the announcement, Sonos joined the list of several audio companies entering the auto industry, including Bose, Bowers & Wilkins, and Bang & Olufsen.
Partnerships are seen as a way for companies that are healthy at home to diversify their revenue streams and a way for carmakers to leverage the voice and marketing power of well-known brands to influence purchasing decisions.
However, what makes the partnership interesting is that, unlike other audio companies, Sonos offers a free (radio) music streaming service and an ad-free paid version (HD Radio).
This allows Sonos users to easily follow their radio listening sessions between home and car.
The news comes on the heels of the launch of the Sonos Roam, a $ 169 portable speaker.
There are also rumors that Sonos is developing headphones as the company works to expand its focus from home audio to providing sound wherever the need arises.
Additionally, Sonos announced this week that its products had sold in 11 million households by the end of 2020 and that listening time had increased by 33% during the pandemic.
It is expected to have more than 500,000 paid radio users and target 100 million users, but no timeline has yet been set for one of them and annual sales are expected to double by 2024, with at least $ 2.25 billion to reach.