Sonos and Ikea to collaborate on home listening productsIkea

Sonos and Ikea to collaborate on home listening products

Sonos and Ikea have just announced what can easily be considered as one of the hottest tech collaboration of the year.

Details on the partnership remain sparse, but their work is reportedly apart of a new joint effort to “create future home sound experiences” bringing “music and sound” into all aspects of the home. Ikea calls this the third step for its Ikea Home Smart initiative, which previously, in 2015, integrated Qi wireless charging into their furniture and launched smart lighting products in 2016. Sonos and Ikea’s partnership is not expected for some time; however, it has been announced that it will be available in stores come 2019.

“Together with Sonos we want to democratize music and sound in the home, and we want to create products designed for how people listen together at home. By teaming up with Sonos we want to combine IKEA home furnishing knowledge with Sonos’ expertise within great home sound,” explained Björn Block of IKEA’s Home Smart division.

There are no confirmed details about what specific types of products the two will collaborate on, but it could mean open integration come 2019. Surely, listeners could foresee Ikea simply selling Sonos’ existing speakers, but the partnership is more likely a point into entirely new products, developed with Sonos’ intellectual property and Ikea’s expanse network of furniture designers. This extensive planning may also point to the extended timeline.

Certainly, Sonos and Ikea’s partnership is a substantial win for home listening.  The two companies — Ikea being a budget Swedish furniture company and Sonos being a premium audio deliverance — point to an unlikely joint venture, but their collaboration could mean big changes for the at home audiophiles’ foreseeable future.

 

H/T: TechCrunch

 

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