Just a few months after its initial release in February 2022, Spotify Car Thing is now essentially nonexistent because the company has decided to stop making the gadget.
According to TechCrunch , Spotify has declared that it will stop making its initial piece of hardware, the Car Thing.
During Spotify’s most recent earnings call, the reveal took place. The decision to stop producing Car Thing was blamed by the firm for missing its gross margin targets for the quarter during the conference call. In an additional statement, Spotify clarifies:
Better understanding in-car listening and bringing music to a larger range of users and automobiles were the two objectives of Spotify’s Car Thing investigation. We have chosen to halt further Car Thing production as a result of a number of circumstances, including product demand and supply chain problems. Devices already in use will function as expected. This endeavor has revealed valuable lessons, and we are continuing to concentrate on the car as a crucial environment for audio.
Car Thing will now carry on operating normally for those who have previously purchased the product. The product’s price has already been reduced by down to just $49.99 by Spotify, who has already initiated a form of fire sale.
Google’s 9TO5 The product Car Thing has always been peculiar. Initially, it was only available to certain Spotify Premium subscribers who received an invitation. expanded became available to everyone on the waitlist later that year.
However, it wasn’t until 2022 that the general public could finally own Car Thing. What was Car Thing exactly? The product is just a Spotify extension that has been modified for your car’s dashboard. The gadget has a Hey Spotify hotword for hands-free controls and could play Spotify independently of a display that was already in your car. Through a row of buttons on the device’s top, shortcuts may also be customized.
As Android Auto and Apple CarPlay continue to become standard features in the majority of vehicles, we stated in our evaluation of the Car Thing from last year that it was full of wonderful ideas but basically unnecessary.
It’s obvious that Spotify has since reached the same conclusion.
As a reminder, Spotify removed its in-app vehicle mode not so coincidentally around the time Car Things launched. Let’s just hope the lessons learned from Car Thing apply to Spotify’s in-app car mode. On a fresh iteration of the feature, Spotify is continuing testing.
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