Not content with a recent legal win against Google, allegedly working on its first ever pair of wireless headphones and holding down a coveted position in the upper echelons of multi-room audio, smart speakers, soundbars and in-car audio markets in 2022, Sonos appears to be preparing for a new starring role on your TV.
Why so? The company is hiring multiple staff roles for a new “Home Theater OS” project, with job descriptions suggesting plans to run apps or experiences directly on your TV.
According to multiple sources who spoke anonymously to Protocol, the development follows the company's long-held desire to play a bigger role in TV streaming.
The Californian audio specialist recently advertised a job vacancy for a “UX Lead – Next Generation Home Theater Experience,” a position which will work “across device surfaces (mobile, television, tablet, and HW remote) to deliver a next generation content delivery experience.”
Think you could be a good fit? Applicants need to have multiple years of experience designing for mobile “and/or TV.”
Until now, Sonos has designed and released apps to control its extensive range of speakers for mobile devices and desktop PCs, but never TVs. The company’s existing home cinema products (including the What Hi-Fi? 2021 Award-winning Sonos Arc and Sonos Beam (Gen 2) soundbars) also don’t ship with their own remote and can instead be controlled using third-party TV remotes.
Another job listing at Sonos is for a “Principal Platform Product Manager” to develop an “OS & Media Platform roadmap”. This particular post asks for applicants to have experience with modern operating systems, including Android/Android TV. And according to another recent Sonos job ad, a “Head of Partnerships, Home Theatre” role will “play a pivotal role in connecting users to the content and services they love with Sonos quality experiences they’ve come to expect,”
As noted by Protocol, the last job listing was promoted on LinkedIn by Sonos chief innovation officer, Nick Millington, who posted the news that he was working on “a new home theater project.” Millington adds that the job would be a great fit for those with experience in streaming media, including “audio, video, games, sports, music, news, movies, TV, news, podcasts.”
Whatever Sonos' ultimate vision for the future, these job listings make it quite clear that the multi-room audio giant wants to become an even bigger player in your living room...
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