Spotify’s Car Thing is no more
Earlier this year, Spotify announced the general availability of Car Thing. But it seems that less than a year into its launch, the company announced during its quarterly earnings that they have ceased the manufacturing of the accessory. In a statement made to TechCrunch, a Spotify spokesperson said:
“The goal of Spotify’s Car Thing exploration was to better understand in-car listening, and bring audio to a wider range of users and vehicles. Based on several factors, including product demand and supply chain issues, we have decided to stop further production of Car Thing units. Existing devices will perform as intended. This initiative has unlocked helpful learnings, and we remain focused on the car as an important place for audio.”
For those who are unfamiliar, Spotify’s Car Thing could be seen as the company’s (sort of) answer to Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto. It was a physical device that users could place in their car that gave users the ability to access their Spotify account and stream songs through it.
It was a very limiting device since unlike CarPlay or Android Auto head units, it was really only good for one thing, which made it quite a niche product unless you are a die-hard Spotify fan. The device was available for purchase last year via an invite system, but it was in February of this year that it was made available for the general public.
It is unclear how many units Spotify actually managed to sell, but whatever that number was, it must have been lower than Spotify anticipated for them to decide to cancel it.
Source: TechCrunch