I’m an app developer, why should I create an app on top of the Sonr API?
If you have a vision for the next generation of home audio device or service, Sonr can help you get there.
Sonr is creating technologies and reference designs that are being sold to major CE brands for incorporation into their products. An important part of these reference designs will be the ecosystem of supporting apps that you create. As consumer products begin to reach the market, your early participation means that you’ll have a prominent position in this ecosystem to deliver your app and service to millions of users. For reference, about 20 million plug in docks and alarm clocks are sold annually for the Apple 30pin ecosystem. Given Android’s dominant market share, the number of music lovers on Android (including android mp3 players) , we believe the potential for a next generation android home audio solution to reach even more widespread adoption is great.
I’m a CE device maker/hardware developer, what does Sonr offer me?
Sonr currently offers its technology in two forms: First, as a solution consisting of a micro-controller, reference design and app, second, as a turn key solution from one of our established overseas manufacturing partners. In the near future, we plan on releasing our hardware as an inexpensive module, allowing individual developers a more user friendly, self service option. In the meantime, if any of these options are of interest to you, please contact us directly
Why not iOS?
We have every intention of bringing our technology to Apple’s 30 pin connector in time. We started with Android for two reasons. First, because the need for a dock on Android was acute, there simply were no plug in docks for Android. Second, Android’s greater openness was important to us for several of our features, for example the ability to capture meta-data from different applications for our favorites button.
Why not bluetooth?
The market has clearly shown that there’s a market for both docked and wireless products, and of course, Sonr has both categories on its roadmap. We’ve shied away from bluetooth from our docked products because of the added cost and headaches associated with bluetooth (especially in the case of a dock where its often a second or third device to be paired). We believe the docked products should be as dead simple and low cost as possible.
In addition, as stated elsewhere, our fundamental goal is to really nail the casual use cases where the remote control is essential. There are lots of players focused on immersive, heads down, individual user situations, our goal is to home create devices that are rewarding and fun to use when sharing music with friends and family
Why not USB?
There are a number of USB solutions at various stages, but our goal is to provide a universal product that works on all reasonably recent Android phones (Android 2.2 and above). We expect to move to a single plug solution as soon as its broadly available to Android (80% installed base), our best guess is that this is 18-24 months away (Q1-Q2 2014)
How will my app get exposure?
The Sonr App has a chooser screen that is available to users upon install and can autostart upon dock plugin. Later this year, we will implement a recommended app section which will highlight the best apps by type from within that chooser, and all verified working apps will get exposure from a “compatible apps” which will be accessible from the chooser menu of the app. Please note, we are not forming a separate store per se, these are simply links to the Android Store where your app could otherwise be found. As more an more and more compatible apps are created, and we can’t link to all of them, we intend to give preference to those developers who came first. Of course, that’s not to say that just by being the early bird, you can develop a half baked, neglected app and expect us to sticky it at the top of the list, but we consider ourselves loyal folks and will do our best to act that way. You get the point.
What’s this “casual music interaction” all about?
“Casual music interaction” is the term we use to describe interaction with the phone outside of the touch screen. When you are on the train or listening to music alone, interacting with music services from the screen can be a rich, immersive experience. However, if you are listening to Internet music over dinner or while entertaining, such interaction is a distraction from the main focus. In those cases, “casual music interaction” is what you want, from pausing the music to answer the door to tagging a favorite song. It’s interaction without distracting you from your main focus.
Can I get a custom remote for my app?
Yes. If you’d like a remote with different buttons than the ones in our extended remote for your app, we can provide that. Typical setup time for a new remote is 2-3 weeks and the setup cost varies with size of your initial order, but is typically about $500-1000 for a standard configuration remote, with minimum order quantities as low as 500 pieces Contact us for details
