Sonos reported a drop in revenue after the fiasco with its proprietary application

Sonos is still trying to overcome the problems associated with a radical update of the proprietary application, as a result of which it lost many of the necessary functions. The day before, the company published a report on the results of the fourth quarter of the 2024 financial year – the damage to the company was obvious.

Image source: sonos.com

Revenue was down 8% year over year, a result Sonos attributed to “weak demand due to challenging market conditions and challenges arising from the recent rollout of our app.” During the quarter, the company allocated $4 million to “invest in restoring the application” – it previously estimated that a complete correction of the error would cost it $30 million.

«To date, we have released 16 updates and restored 90% of the missing features. In the future we will alternate between major and minor releases. This will help us maintain our pace of improvements while also ensuring adequate beta testing,” Sonos said in its earnings report. Company CEO Patrick Spence took responsibility for the incident with the application; in October, Sonos made a slew of commitments that it believes will prevent it from repeating such a colossal mistake.

«Sonos’ flywheel continues to be strong, as evidenced by the fact that the number of new products entering home ownership in 2024 has increased,” Mr. Spence said in the annual report. The company also reported its “highest-ever annual market share” in the home theater segment; The low morale of the company’s employees increased, and the mood in Sonos communities on social networks improved.

Sonos is returning to the right path in terms of new equipment. The Arc Ultra soundbar, introduced about a month ago, has received mostly positive reviews. An error was discovered in its operation with the Trueplay setting, which was corrected with the release of a software update. If unofficial information is to be believed, the company’s next major product will be a set-top box.