When you think of Amazon, you might think of a giant online retailer that sells all kinds of things. You might also think of a company that sells ebooks and e-readers such as the Kindle, but not many would associate Amazon as a speaker company. However it seems that perception is slowly starting to change.According to a recent report by Strategy Analytics, it seems that Amazon is now leading the way as far as WiFI powered speakers are concerned. A position that was once held by Sonos has since been taken over by Amazon, thanks to the company’s release of its Echo series of smart speakers that comes with a virtual assistant built into it.
However according to David Watkins, Director within the Intelligent Home Group at Strategy Analytics, he thinks that Apple would actually be more of a direct competitor to Sonos than Amazon. “Although Sonos is losing share as new players enter the Wi-Fi speaker space, its dominant position at the high-end of the market remains untouched. Apple’s upcoming HomePod speaker will pose more of a direct challenge to Sonos given the HomePod’s high price point and Apple’s decision to focus its marketing efforts on the speaker’s sound quality and music streaming capabilities rather than its ability to be controlled via Siri.”
Following the launch and the success of the Echo, we’ve seen companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple take a stab at creating smart speakers of their own. If the rumors are to be believed, Samsung could be working on one as well.