Roku has long been adept at staying above the fray in the platform wars. For example, it was the only third-party video device to support Prime Video as Amazon rolled out its own Fire TV. With its announcement today that it now supports Apple HomeKit (and thus Siri), in addition to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, its players will now be able to be controlled by all of the major voice agents. But while it has steered clear of alienating the industry's giants, it has nonetheless been mounting an offensive, one that is now clear in its pursuit of capturing the home theater.
It all began innocently enough with the launch of the Roku Wireless Speakers. These were compatible only with televisions that had integrated Roku software, which the company claims now powers 1 in 3 smart TVs sold in the U.S. (The ratio has grown since I first wrote about the speakers[1] in 2018.) It expanded into soundbars last year with the Roku Smart Soundbar, which integrates a Roku player that can work with the company's wireless subwoofer as well as the speakers formerly limited to Roku TVs. And now, the company has announced the Roku Streambar[2], a mere 14-inch device that nonetheless packs in two forward-facing and two side-facing speakers. At $129, Roku is so confident of the mini-soundbar's holiday gift potential that the company notes that the device fits in a stocking.
While Roku's audio advances have been fueled by its acquisition of Danish audio company Dynastrom three years ago, it may have its sights on multi-room audio, a market the company addressed with tube-like networked audio players before it launched its first video devices. That would pit it even more directly against Sonos which, following Fitbit's acquisition by Google last