One of the unpleasant things about living in South Africa is that sometimes our tech isn’t entirely functional. Services and features are all too often geo-limited. Well, Sonos and Amazon have ensured that there’s one less item on the list — Alexa voice control for Sonos products.
South Africa isn’t entirely special, however. Yes, Alexa support is coming to various Sonos devices but it’s also coming to 26 other countries. Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey are all on the guest list.
Hey Alexa, do Sonos things
In effect, if you happen to own one of the audio brand’s speakers (that also supports voice control), it’s about to be upgraded to a smart speaker. Some of the examples of available tasks the company lists are: playing music, setting timers, performing searches, checking the weather, and controlling connected smart devices. Basically, if it’s possible with one of Amazon’s Echo speakers, it should be possible here.
But you’ll need compatible hardware. Thankfully, the list is rather broad. The Roam, Arc, Move, One, and Beam (gen 2) will all support the AI-powered upgrade.
The company’s Joe van Zyl said in a statement, “We’ve seen how our customers enjoy being able to use Alexa on their Sonos speakers for voice requests they know and love, such as streaming their favourite music and controlling other devices in their smart home. We’re thrilled to bring Alexa to more listeners around the world.”
As to an official launch, that’s a little vague. The Alexa upgrade will show up in ‘spring’, which means sometime between April and the end of June this year. That’s not too long to wait. Right?