The Spotify Car Thing is Suspended After a Year

While Spotify has just announced a welcome increase in paying subscribers on its platform, the streaming service is also confirming the end of Car Thing, the in-car touchscreen that launched just a year ago.

In recent years, Spotify has tried to diversify its business in some way. For example, the music streaming service has just launched video podcasts in France and five other countries. And in June 2022, the platform announced its ambitions to become the world’s number one audiobook.

And remember, in October 2021, Spotify enters the hardware market for the first time with the Car Thing, a touchscreen for cars that gives you quick access to all content in the app. We’re using the imperfect here because the company just confirmed the cessation of production of the Car Thing, after only a year of career.

End of Spotify’s Car Thing

“The goal of Spotify’s exploration of Car Thing was to better understand in-car listening and bring audio within reach of more users and vehicles. Due to several factors, including product demand and supply chain issues, we have decided to discontinue production of Car Thing units,” said Daniel Ek, founder of Spotify. Happy, Spotify announces it will support software Car Thing devices have already been sold, but anyway, the company is formalizing the end of its short adventure in the hardware market. With Car Thing, Spotify wanted to offer an alternative to users who could not use Android Auto or Apple Car Play in their vehicle. It should only be recognized that if the device had some importance a few years ago, today more and more new vehicles integrate native support for Android Auto or Apple Car Play.

Which in fact reduces the attractiveness of the Car Thing considerably. In addition, it should be remembered that the Car Thing is a Spotify premium account to enjoy. The bill could therefore rise quickly, between the price of the subscription and the cost of the accessory that sells for $90 in the United States (prices have dropped significantly since then).