They want to ?democratize music and sound in the home? Today, Ikea announced a new partnership with wireless speaker brand Sonos. The announcement offers no concrete details on what kind of products consumers can expect from the initiative, but states that the two companies will ?explore how to make it even easier for people to play any song, anywhere in the home, without interrupting the flow of daily life.?
The Sonos partnership is the next phase of Ikea?s Home Smart initiative, which began with a line of furniture featuring built-in wireless charging and then progressed to a smart lighting range that?s compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and soon, Google Home.
Judging by these Home Smart precedents, the product lineup with Sonos?due to launch in 2019?could very well involve speakers or controls designed to work with existing Ikea furniture or entirely new sound-focused items. Or, at the very least, says The Verge, we can expect Ikea to start selling Sonos speakers.
?Together with @Sonos we want to democratise music and sound in the home.? Says Björn Block, Business leader at IKEA Home Smart. The new collaboration with Sonos will be launched during 2019. Share your thoughts on #IKEAxSonos! pic.twitter.com/ZnLRu1ewjA? IKEA Today (@IKEAtoday) December 6, 2017

The possibilities seem rather open, and probably intentionally so. Both sides are bringing breadth and flexibility to the table: Sonos is a service-agnostic speaker whose latest model is on track...