Sonos top brass to forgo bonuses after app release ‘failure’
Speaker-maker admits it released an updated app too soon, leaving users unable to perform basic functions
01 October 2024 - 16:21
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Santa Barbara, California — Speaker-maker Sonos unveiled a series of reforms on Tuesday in a bid to restore its reputation after a disastrous app update in May that torpedoed customer trust and caused the company to cut staff.
CEO Patrick Spence acknowledged mistakes around the release of the app, users’ central hub for playing music and controlling the speakers. He and seven other company leaders would forgo their bonus in the most recent fiscal year and, unless certain benchmarks are met, the coming one, he said.
“This is obviously a failure of Sonos, but it starts with me in terms of where it started,” said Spence. “So these commitments are what we’ve put together to make sure that we learn from this and make sure that the Sonos experience is better than ever.”
After its release, Sonos quickly learnt the new app wasn’t allowing users to perform essential functions, such as accessing or searching their music libraries, setting sleep timers and even downloading the app.
The company has since been updating the app with new or revamped features about every two weeks and said on Tuesday it is more than 80% towards its goal of a complete overhaul.
Since May, Sonos and Spence have been on something of an apology tour to their roughly 15 million users. Sonos has released multiple statements of contrition, studied bringing back the previous app, pushed out new app updates, and in August Spence fielded questions on Reddit from angry customers.
“When we make a mistake, we hear it, and that’s OK,” he said.
Spence said the app’s problems were the result of insufficient testing and a desire to release too many features at once, which he called a “big bang roll out.”
“We underestimated the complexity of the system and so our testing didn’t capture all of the things that it should. We released it too soon.”
Costly mishap
The company said it will extend speaker warranties by an additional year, improve app testing, release upgrades every two to four weeks in perpetuity and appoint an employee as “quality ombudsperson” to give executives regular updates on new tech development and publish an audit twice annually.
Sonos is also forming a customer advisory board, similar to the one for its dealer network, that can advise executives on what improvements are necessary before they are broadly released. Spence said the committee hasn’t been formed yet.
The app mishap has been costly for Sonos. The company lowered its fourth-quarter sales projections, delayed the release of two new products, estimated a $20m to $30m expense related to fixing the app and, in August, cut about 6% of staff, or 100 jobs. Its shares have dropped more than 30% since the day before the new app was pushed out.
Still, Sonos posted a 6% rise in third quarter sales to $397.1m and swung to a profit of $3.7m compared with a loss of $23.6m a year earlier.
Spence said no additional job cuts were planned. The board and other executives were working on new metrics to measure leaders’ success to warrant bonuses and would release those details in a securities filing, he added.
Spence, whose total compensation was $5.19m in fiscal 2023, took a cash bonus of about $72,000.
“We're not going to relent on this until we’re satisfied,” he said.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Sonos top brass to forgo bonuses after app release ‘failure’
Speaker-maker admits it released an updated app too soon, leaving users unable to perform basic functions
Santa Barbara, California — Speaker-maker Sonos unveiled a series of reforms on Tuesday in a bid to restore its reputation after a disastrous app update in May that torpedoed customer trust and caused the company to cut staff.
CEO Patrick Spence acknowledged mistakes around the release of the app, users’ central hub for playing music and controlling the speakers. He and seven other company leaders would forgo their bonus in the most recent fiscal year and, unless certain benchmarks are met, the coming one, he said.
“This is obviously a failure of Sonos, but it starts with me in terms of where it started,” said Spence. “So these commitments are what we’ve put together to make sure that we learn from this and make sure that the Sonos experience is better than ever.”
After its release, Sonos quickly learnt the new app wasn’t allowing users to perform essential functions, such as accessing or searching their music libraries, setting sleep timers and even downloading the app.
The company has since been updating the app with new or revamped features about every two weeks and said on Tuesday it is more than 80% towards its goal of a complete overhaul.
Since May, Sonos and Spence have been on something of an apology tour to their roughly 15 million users. Sonos has released multiple statements of contrition, studied bringing back the previous app, pushed out new app updates, and in August Spence fielded questions on Reddit from angry customers.
“When we make a mistake, we hear it, and that’s OK,” he said.
Spence said the app’s problems were the result of insufficient testing and a desire to release too many features at once, which he called a “big bang roll out.”
“We underestimated the complexity of the system and so our testing didn’t capture all of the things that it should. We released it too soon.”
Costly mishap
The company said it will extend speaker warranties by an additional year, improve app testing, release upgrades every two to four weeks in perpetuity and appoint an employee as “quality ombudsperson” to give executives regular updates on new tech development and publish an audit twice annually.
Sonos is also forming a customer advisory board, similar to the one for its dealer network, that can advise executives on what improvements are necessary before they are broadly released. Spence said the committee hasn’t been formed yet.
The app mishap has been costly for Sonos. The company lowered its fourth-quarter sales projections, delayed the release of two new products, estimated a $20m to $30m expense related to fixing the app and, in August, cut about 6% of staff, or 100 jobs. Its shares have dropped more than 30% since the day before the new app was pushed out.
Still, Sonos posted a 6% rise in third quarter sales to $397.1m and swung to a profit of $3.7m compared with a loss of $23.6m a year earlier.
Spence said no additional job cuts were planned. The board and other executives were working on new metrics to measure leaders’ success to warrant bonuses and would release those details in a securities filing, he added.
Spence, whose total compensation was $5.19m in fiscal 2023, took a cash bonus of about $72,000.
“We're not going to relent on this until we’re satisfied,” he said.
Reuters
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