Sonos is taking on Amazon, Apple, and Google... all at once.

The Santa Barbara-based hardware startup known for their premium speaker systems just launched a powerful developer kit for their millions of devices.

Within the past few years, millions of homes have adopted Amazon Echos and Google Homes. Even babies are learning how to use the voice assistants to play music, ask about the weather, and explore the internet. 👶

Last year, Sonos launched the Sonos One – a self-contained, Alexa-connected speaker to compete with the Amazon Echo. Previously, all of the Sonos systems required an Echo Dot or Google Home to let people control their speaker with their voice. Apple also launched their own Siri-powered HomePod in February.

This is Sonos's first large foray into opening their hardware to developers. Before, they've relied on Amazon and Google's massive suites of Alexa/Google Home skills to expand how users can speak to their Sonos devices.

This isn't a trivial battle – the ultimate winner(s) of the battle to own your voice assistant will heavily influence where your voice purchases are routed, which streaming service plays your music, and your newborn's first words. 😂

Coincidentally, Twitter just launched Periscope Audio, a new feature to broadcast just audio. Think of it like a live podcast for your Twitter followers. We're hoping the next update will let you jump into a friend's live Periscope audio broadcast from a separate phone. Anchor, the popular podcasting tool, already supports this feature for non-live broadcasts.

We can't wait to see what makers build on Sonos. Share your thoughts – the Sonos team will be around all day answering your questions. 🔈

Uppercase just launched to help online brands quickly launch beautiful retail stores from the ground up. They've raised $3.5M from Lerer Hippeau, CRV, and SV Angels. We are disappointed Lowercase Capital could not participate. 😢