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Sonos Dislikes Apple’s Plans To Open Up Siri, Wants Oversight

By  |  June 15, 2021

According to 9to5mac, the latest big tech antitrust hearing is being held by US lawmakers and Sonos is the main party testifying. Many of the company’s antitrust concerns revolve around Google and Amazon, but Sonos’ chief legal officer also called out its issues with Apple in his testimony.

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    Last month Tile, Spotify, and more testified to the US Congressional Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights in a hearing back in April. Apple and Google’s counsel also joined.

    Tuesday, June 15’s hearing titled “Protecting Competition and Innovation in Home Technologies” includes Sonos sharing its concerns along with Amazon and Google presenting their cases. With Apple not being a central part of this hearing, it didn’t send a representative. However, that’s not to say Sonos didn’t share some concerns about how Apple handles its Siri and HomeKit business.

    At the outset, Sonos chief legal officer Eddie Lazarus shared platform openness as key to its success vs. “a walled-garden experience.”

    “Our success is based in significant part on elevating the idea of an open platform facilitating consumer choice rather than a walled-garden experience. Sonos customers can choose audio content to play on our systems from more than 100 streaming services, such as Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Google’s YouTube Music. They can also choose between one of the two leading voice assistants, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant. Moreover, we provide these services with a strong emphasis on quality and privacy, focusing on using customer data to enhance their experience rather than aggressive monetization.”

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