Apple will start selling Sonos speakers today
You can buy them online today and at Apple Stores on October 5th.
Sonos still offers one of the best experiences for those who want to keep music in sync throughout their home. But it's not a brand that everyone knows, and in a place like Best Buy or Target it has to fight a lot of other competitors for shelf space and attention (that's not the case in its massive NYC retail store, of course). Today, the company's retail presence is getting a boost thanks to a new partnership with Apple. Starting this afternoon, you'll be able to buy the Sonos Play:1 and Play:5 speakers on Apple's website in the US. By October 5th, the speakers will be on sale in 468 Apple retail stores around the world, and they'll be coming to more markets online in the following weeks.
If you buy a Sonos speaker on either Apple's site or in a store, you'll also get a gift card that gives you three free months of Apple Music, which naturally will work with your new speakers. That'll work whether you're a new subscriber or already paying for the service. Apple will also have demo stations set up showing off how Sonos works in more than 140 of its stores. Given that Sonos isn't the easiest thing to explain right off the bat, being able to show potential customers just how it works could be a nice boon to the speaker company.
With its grander vision of becoming the sound platform of choice for the connected home (the first step of which is Amazon Echo integration), giving buyers more places to both demo its products and buy them should be helpful. The company's gone through a bit of turmoil this year, but it seems its not ready to fade out just yet.
