Sonos is quickly cementing itself as the en vogue lifestyle music system to own these days, and today’s announcement from the company only serves to strengthen its already firm command of the wireless music system market. This morning, Sonos posted on its blog that Google Play Music now has integrated Sonos support. Coinciding with the new addition is word that Sonos’ Android and iOS music streaming app has been overhauled to include a new user interface and universal search feature that works across multiple services — and it’s due to be released next month.
While Android users will still need to use Sonos’ app to set up their systems and stream music from other sources such as iTunes, the Google Play Music app will now offer a “casting” option so that users can stream to any Sonos speaker within their local network directly from the app.
Support for streaming Google Play Music will be included in Sonos’ Android app as well, which is due for an update sometime next month, according to an earlier Sonos statement. A beta version of the new app is currently available for Android users who might want to get a jump on trying out some of the interface’s new features, but due to rules set out by Apple, no iOS beta will be released. Sonos also reports that its desktop controller app will be getting an update sometime later this year.
Part of the app updates include a fresh new user interface that will a employ a new three-module layout, one module for music currently being played, another for the speaker it is being played on, and the last for the next song in the queue. However, the most interesting part of the app update is a new universal search option which is supposed to help users find songs across the many music services they use. Sonos now supports 32 different music services, including Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Cloud Player, Pandora, and Beats Music.
With the addition of the excellent-sounding Play:1 speaker, Sonos made its proprietary streaming music system available to a wider consumer base, and the company’s popularity has since surged. According to a Sonos statement, the company’s revenue was over half a billion dollars in 2013 – $535 million exactly – a figure that represents a 97% growth over 2012. Since 2008, Sonos has grown by a factor of 10.
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