Sonos CEO says speakers will work 'as long as possible'

The boss of Sonos apologised on Thursday for a decision to prevent older speakers from receiving software updates.

In a statement, the company's chief executive Patrick Spence said the company would deliver updates to all products "for as long as possible".

But the company did not retract its earlier decision.

The plan has sparked outrage with customers since it was announced earlier this week.

Some Sonos customers who spent thousands of pounds on their products voiced their anger on social media. They attacked the company claiming it was trying to force them to invest in new products.

In a letter posted on the company's website, Mr Spence said the company "did not get [the announcement] right from the start."

"Many of you have invested heavily in your Sonos systems, and we intend to honour that investment for as long as possible," wrote Mr Spence.

Sonos said it will still offer fixes for bugs and security patches for older products. But the plan needed to be put in place because older hardware would not be able to support the new software.

Owners who have systems that include both older and newer Sonos speakers will have to be set up two speaker groups to allow the correct updates to come through. Once a single speaker in a system can no longer receive new software it prevents the rest of the system from receiving updates.

Without updates, these devices will eventually stop working.

The change affects four models sold between 2006 and 2015, including the Play:5, Connect:Amp and Connect.

Affected Sonos customers are being offered a 30% discount towards a new product if they recycle their old speakers.