Sonos Marches Its Wireless Music System Into China
Sonos, maker of the well-known wireless multi-room music system for the home, announced at a press conference in Beijing, China, today that it will soon be selling its products in the important Asian market.
The move by the Santa Barbara, Calif., consumer electronics company is a big expansion, putting its players in the hands of a growing base of more affluent Chinese customers by later this month.
“The consumer market is really developing and the Chinese customer wants the best products for music delivery,” said Sonos CEO John MacFarlane in an interview with BoomTown earlier this week. “We have had a fair amount of growth outside the U.S. and we expect it to only continue.”
MacFarlane said all Sonos products, which make a lot of use of Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices as controllers, will be localized in China.
The company said Sonos China will be headquartered in the southern China city of Shenzhen. The new managing director of the Chinese division will be Yaling Zhang, who previously served as managing director of Archos China.
Here’s the official press release from Sonos:
SONOS BRINGS WIRELESS MULTI-ROOM MUSIC TO CHINA
Sonos Controller for iPad and Entire Sonos Product Lineup Localized in Chinese
Sonos China Opens Shenzhen Office and Names Yaling Zhang Managing Director
Sonos China Launches www.sonos-china.comBEIJING and SANTA BARBARA, California–November 2, 2010–Sonos, the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today announced that the award-winning Sonos Multi-Room Music System will be available in China beginning later this month. The Sonos system will be available for purchase in China at select audio video retailers.
At a press conference today in Beijing, Sonos founder and CEO John MacFarlane introduced the Sonos product family and the upcoming localized Sonos Controller for iPad. MacFarlane announced that Sonos China will be headquartered in the southern China city of Shenzhen, and will be the company’s second office in Asia.
MacFarlane also introduced the new Managing Director of Sonos China, Yaling Zhang. Zhang, who previously served as Managing Director of Archos China, is a consumer electronics veteran who has successfully introduced new brands and new ways of experiencing entertainment to the Chinese consumer.
“More than half of Sonos’ business is conducted outside of the United States,” said John MacFarlane, founder and CEO, Sonos, Inc. “As we enter the world’s largest music market, we have a tremendous opportunity to introduce the Sonos music experience to even more music loving consumers.”
MacFarlane continued “We’re committed to doing business in China the right way, with localized products, a local office, local leadership and a local Website. We’ve found that leader in Yaling Zhang who has both the background and experience in introducing new consumer electronics brands to the Chinese market.”
For more information about Sonos please visit www.sonos.com. To learn more about Sonos China and the Sonos Multi-Room Music System in China, please visit www.sonos-china.com.
And, apropos of nothing, here is an interesting video by Sonos of its also recent Apple iAd deployment:
