By
Godfrey Benjamin
March 22nd, 2024
Following the news from Apple, the shares of Sonos dropped by 7% and Logitech shares lost 6.12% on Tuesday.
The shares of Sonos Inc (NASDAQ: SONO) and Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) have gone on a downward plunge following reports that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) yanked off the companies’ smart speaker from its stores. According to the report first released by Bloomberg, the move became necessary as Apple prepares to unveil its first-ever over-ear headphones, smaller HomePods.
As reported, both Sonos and Logitech smart speakers were removed from Apple’s online stores while staff at Apple’s physical retail locations were also instructed to remove the products for sale at stores in recent days. While Apple debuted its first HomePod back in 2018, the company still had Sonos speakers in its outlets up until this time, and an Apple spokesman said in an email saying:
“We regularly make changes to the products we sell as new third-party accessories are introduced or customers’ needs change.”
As Bloomberg noted, speaker devices from Bose as well got removed from the company’s retail outlets from late September, giving a better inclination that the company wants no competition for its proposed audio devices.
Following this news, the shares of Sonos dropped by 7% to close at $14.54 on Tuesday. The shares also plunged further in after-hours trading, with Logitech shares dropped by 6.12% to close $75.83 but with corrected gains about 1.32% in the after-hours trading.
Sonos, Logitech Products Overlap with Apple
Sonos is a Santa Barbara, California-based developer and manufacturer of wireless home audio products, including smart speakers such as the Sonos One being pulled off from Apple’s stores. The basic idea behind its products is Whole House Audio, i.e., to allow a household to play music from a variety of sources in multiple rooms simultaneously, so that different rooms may hear either the same music source in synch or different music sources.
Logitech on the other is an American Swiss manufacturer of computer peripherals and software, with headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Newark, California. The company develops and markets personal peripherals for PC navigation, video communication and collaboration, music, and smart homes which includes Bluetooth speakers.
The fact that both Sonos and Logitech manufactures products that overlap with that of Apple including Apple’s HomePods and other Bluetooth speakers, further fuels this conflict of interest.
Is Apple’s Move Anti-Competitive?
With Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook joining other big four tech firms to appear before the Senate anti-trust committee back in July, a move that has turned the radar on each of the firms.
The move by Apple to remove competitor’s products in preparation for its own has a precedent when the company In 2014, stopped selling Fitbit Inc. wearables soon after announcing the Apple Watch. The company also pulled Bowers & Wilkins products a few years ago and removed Bang & Olufsen devices from store shelves earlier this year, as reported by Bloomberg