Why is that? I recently bought a Sonos after getting plenty of recommendations. Even though it sounds great, I hate that they dropped support for Google assistant. Also, the Sonos voice commands can't handle Spotify or YouTube music. Kind of sucks.

I see it as problematic as you. Have two Sonos five and two Sonos one and think about switching to another product more often. But now i‘ve already spent so much money...

However, what should be used instead? I would take the boxes from Apple, but, as far as I know, they are also quite limited (only AirPlay).

Another example of the fact that such things should rather be expanded with open standards.

From my point of view, the best strategy for Sonos would be to be as open as possible.

I read the parent comment to mean he declined the offer, not that he didn't receive it

Sorry, to be fully clear - i had an internship offer from apple that i declined, and i think i also declined to do the interview process at sonos before getting to the offer stage.