Sonos CEO hints Google Assistant will arrive on speakers in time for holiday shopping

The US-based smart speaker company Sonos went public on Nasdaq today, launching an initial public offering valued at $16 per share. Hours later, its shares jumped over 25 percent for a high of $21, at the time of writing.

"We're raising our profile a bit and stepping onto the bigger stage. I don't think it could be better timed," Sonos CEO Patrick Spence says in a phone call with The Verge. "It's the next phase of us growing up as a company."

Going public means Sonos will have more cash to take on smart speaker rivals. But as it goes head to head with tech giants like Apple, Amazon, and Google, it runs into the interesting conundrum that its rivals are also its much-needed allies. As the company reported in its IPO filing, a risk it...

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