Wireless audio company and
Apple Music Partner So**s has an**unced it will lay off employees as it restructures the business towards a new focus on
Music streaming and
Voice control.
The reasoning behind the move came in a
blog post yesterday by
So**s CEO John MacFarlane, who called it an "investment in the
Future of music" that would allow the company to remain profitable, but which came with "very difficult" consequences. ** details were given on the extent of the job cuts.
[IMG]http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2015/12/Apple-Music-So**s-800x337.jpg[/IMG]
MacFarlane said the change would first see
So**s "lean into" the area of paid streaming services, following an irreversible shift in the
Music ecosystem, led by Apple.
This past year, when Apple an**unced its*entry with Apple Music, we saw and helped drive a dramatic acceleration of paid Music subscriptions. With Apple's influence, the entire ecosystem ? labels, artists, management ? began to embrace and advance streaming all over the world.
**w, this shift is irreversibly started, and everyone in the ecosystem is adjusting to a world of streaming services. The Beatles library, **w available on all the streaming services, is a perfect example of how labels are leaning into streaming.
MacFarlane said the path forward for the
Music industry and for
So**s is "crystal clear" as he an**unced it was "doubling down" on streaming music, with an aim to build "incredibly rich experiences" as consumers inevitably grew dissatisfied with existing solutions for listening at home.
The CEO offered few details on the products or services that would be at the center of such experiences, but identified
Voice Control as the way forward, calling the company "fans" of Amazon's Alexa personal assistant and Echo hardware.
Voice recognition isn't new; today it's nearly ubiquitous with Siri, OK Google, and Cortana. But the Echo found a sweet spot in the home and will impact how we navigate music, weather, and many, many other things as developers bring new ideas and more content to the Alexa platform.
Alexa/Echo is the first product to really showcase the power of Voice Control in the home. Its popularity with consumers will accelerate in**vation across the entire industry. What is **vel today will become standard tomorrow. Here again, So**s is taking the long view in how*best to bring voice-enabled Music experiences into the home. Voice is a big change for us, so we'll invest what's required to bring it to market in a wonderful way.
So**s made a name for itself by offering wireless sound systems that connect to an app which integrates third-party
Music streaming services including Spotify and SoundCloud.
Apple Music content became available on
So**s wireless speakers in
February after extensive beta testing by hundreds of thousands of listeners.
So**s faces increasingly stiff competition as companies like Google, Samsung and Bose continue to expand their own wireless home audio solutions. However, while Amazon
an**unced two new voice-activated audio products, it also released SDKs and APIs alongside them which enable any device to respond to
Voice commands, opening the door for potential
So**s speaker integrations in the future.
Tags:
Apple Music,
So**s
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