This is just another example of how brutal it is to play in the consumer space. competition drives prices down to the point of razor thin margins. driving many companies with good products out of business.
It really is pretty amazing that a company can generate 1 billion dollars in revenues from the sale of over 4 million units and still post a 55 million dollar loss. And this froma product that is arguably the market leader for its product type.
We constantly hear people complaining about the high markups that are so common High End audio products, but unfortunately those kind of margins are what it takes to survive in what is essentially a boutique industry with very small production runs. If Sonos can't cover their costs and make a profit wit sales volumes of 4 million units, think how hard it is for a sale high end outfit to survive with production runs in the tens of thousands (if they're lucky.)
Yes their markups are quite high compared to other types of products, but the reality is that providing them with those kind of per unit margins is the only way we are going be be able to keep them (and the hobby) going in the future.
