Sonos May Add Roku's Incoming Voice Assistant To Its Smart Speakers

Slowly but surely, Sonos has been attempting to turn its home speaker offerings into attractive buys for IoT enthusiasts. Earlier this year, we saw the launch of the Sonos ONE, a smart speaker capable of working with both Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant. Not too long ago, Sonos rolled IFTTT support for its smart speakers into beta too. Sonos isn't stopping there, and the next name on its IoT checklist could be a big one indeed: Roku.

Apparently, Sonos and Roku are currently in talks that could spark a partnership. That means we could eventually see Sonos speakers support not only Roku Connect, but also the voice assistant Roku plans to launch at some point next year.

This report comes from CNET, which spoke to anonymous source with knowledge on the discussions between the two companies. That source says that talks are still in their early stages, so some kind of partnership isn't anywhere close to being nailed down. In fact, those talks could still presumably fall apart with no agreement reached, so this might be the first and last we hear of a Sonos and Roku team up.

When reached for comment, Sonos obviously didn't comment directly on the rumor. Though Sonos spokeswoman Laura Morarity said that she can't comment on "potential future partnerships," she did note that Sonos is listening to customer feedback about the capabilities they want to see in their smart speakers. "That said, Sonos is committed to bringing the voice services our customers want to our platform," she added. "So naturally, we're open to having discussions with any number of companies crafting innovative voice experiences."

In any case, a team up would certainly be a smart move for both Sonos and Roku. Both companies face competition from giants like Apple, Amazon, and Google in their respective markets, and though they both seem to be doing fine on their own, it's hard to see how joining forces could hurt. We'll keep an ear to the ground for more, so stay tuned.