Sonos Can Play Its Own Tune

Speaker maker’s Amazon partnership helped boost sales, but profits still need to recover

Amazon wants to deliver everything you want to your doorstep, anywhere in the world. But the e-commerce giant faces several challenges in its pursuit of a global empire. WSJ's Karan Deep Singh breaks down the basics with the help of an Amazon delivery box.

Sonos has shown that it can listen rather well. The trick now is getting others to play along.

No small feat. Those “others” happen to be three of the largest and most valuable companies on the planet. Amazon.com, Apple Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. all happen to own voice-control platforms that power their own respective lines of smart speakers. Throw in Microsoft for good measure, as the software giant also has a voice-enabled digital assistant that other companies are building into smart speakers. These four, with...