Jordan O'BrienBang & Olufsen seems to be all about partnerships recently, and that’s great news for those who love the Danish company’s products. Last year the company teamed up with LG for a stunning OLED TV, while at CES 2018 it has announced new partnerships with Apple and Google that should make its speakers smarter than ever.
Key to this new partnership will be Bang & Olufsen’s support for the Google Assistant. While a software update won’t roll-out to old products, in the future there will be smart speakers from Bang & Olufsen that can be controlled through the Google Assistant. There should also be support for Apple’s Siri voice assistant, but Amazon’s Alexa is noticeably absent.
“At Bang & Olufsen we not only explore new standards of high-end sound and picture from a technological aspect, we also engage in extensive field work to understand how people live with technology. Our vision is to combine inner performance with outer beauty in a product that fits naturally into relevant contexts of the home and the life of real people”, says John Mollanger, CEO at B&O PLAY.
In addition to voice control, Bang & Olufsen is also set to support AirPlay 2. The latest version of AirPlay is all about multi-room audio, with it designed to make playing music on multiple speakers easier than ever for iPhone and iPad users. There will be 10 products in Bang & Olufsen’s range that will see the technology, the company notes.
There’s no word yet on when to expect a Google Assistant-supported product from Bang & Olufsen, or when the company plans on rolling out AirPlay 2, but hopefully it’ll be some point soon.