Sonos has announced a new company that is moving beyond its traditional high-end home audio hardware into a new category of products: software as a service (SaaS).
Sonos Pro, a subscription-based model, is aimed at business users who already use Sonos and other compatible hardware, to help them play audio more efficiently in their business, even in multiple locations simultaneously.
It revolves around an online dashboard designed to manage commercially licensed music across multiple sites, though the US is the only market supported from day one.
Sonos Pro for Business
Detailing the growth of Sonos products in retail spaces, company CEO Patrick Spence paints a picture of businesses returning to business as usual, seeking to provide customers with a full sensory in-store experience.
Says Spence, "Having tested different features in hundreds of business locations to better understand business needs and the complexities of business audio, we pride ourselves on offering a simple solution that was designed from the ground up to meet the needs of this audience."
The online dashboard's remote management capabilities support things like queuing up playlists and managing permissions for certain team members to take control. Subscribers also have access to Sonos wallpapers for seamlessly selecting easy-listening tunes.
SaaS works with Sonos S2 compatible devices, including various One and Era devices, as well as the port or amplifier to connect to your own otherwise unsupported hardware.
US customers can expect to pay $35 per month for each platform slot in addition to hardware, and the company plans to expand Pro to other countries in the future, though the company did not immediately respond to TechRadar's request for learn more about the global launch.