I don't know... but I feel that a well designed "dedicated" hardware remote is still a better solution to control any AV system than a device that was not designed from the ground up to be a remote. The Controller is not perfect, but is a good first attempt to control the SC/SB system. From the beginning I felt that it needed a keypad or touchscreen in addition to the scroll wheel to be a better remote. Without either of these the potential for it to evolve into an ergonomically efficient "Universal" remote is limited. The ability to "quickly" enter letters to execute album/track searches or ability to enter numbers to change channels won't be there. The Sonos app on an iPhone/iPod Touch is not perfect either. Not only does it have be connected to WiFi, but you have to "start" the Sonos application. What if the iPhone fails to start the app? What if you have to reset/reboot the iPhone? This is not not to say that the Controller won't face the same issue, but the potential for crashes in a multipurpose/multiapp device is a lot greater. I'm from the school of stand-alone components. I don't want an integrated AV system or a multi-user "home" remote to be tied up doing other things. I don't thing I'm the only one that feels this way. So it is nice to know that there are choices out there for those that don't feel this way.
I think Sonos sees the iPhone app as a compliment to their hardware remote. Maybe this app is there to fill the gap before they release a new and improved hardware remote. How many Sonos users own an iPhone? How many iPhone user know/knew of Sonos? I see this Sonos app as a strategy to "expose" iPhone/iPod Touch users to the Sonos. The Sonos iPhone Controller is a free application. I doubt that Sonos introduced it to cannibalized their hardware sales. Is more likely that they are using it to introduce their hardware system to a big existing and growing population of iPhone/iPod touch users. -- tamanaco ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tamanaco's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4620 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=54336 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
