Sonos abandons its streaming Apple TV rival even as it was in testing

Troubled audio company Sonos has reportedly told its staff that work on its promised streaming video player is now canceled.

The player, codenamed Pinewood, was first reported on in 2023, when together with an AirPods Max-style rival, it was thought to be Sonos directly taking on Apple. Then, however, an update to its existing iPhone Sonos app was so faulty and so poorly received in early 2024, that the company ultimately saw its CEO resign.

Now according to The Verge, interim CEO Tom Conrad and his management team has held an all-staff call. In it, Conrad announced the cancellation of the Pinewood project and the redeployment of staff to other projects within the company.

The news comes despite the device having been in development since at least 2023. And despite it having already been in beta testing for some months.

It had been expected that Sonos would launch the Pinewood streamer during 2025, and its cancellation means the company has no major new releases for the year.

From May 2024 onwards, Sonos has been working to improve its updated iOS app. Originally, the app had been worked to be more streamlined and easy to use, but the new app was unstable and omitted significant features.

"I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you," then-CEO Patrick Spence said. "There isn't an employee at Sonos who isn't pained by having let you down, and I assure you that fixing the app for all of our customers and partners has been and continues to be our number one priority."

Sonos had ended 2024, though, with the much more well-received Arc Ultra soundbar. But it appears to be concentrating now on regaining the customers it lost over the disastrous app launch.