During a quarterly earnings call, Spotify announced that he is killing his Car Thinga $90 touchscreen device designed to make access to music streaming service much easier for people who don’t have an Apple CarPlay or Android Auto-compatible entertainment system, according to a report from TheVerge.
It’s been a long and strange journey for Spotify’s Car Thing, which initially emerged in 2019 as a device only offered to a very limited set of Spotify customers, as a way to collect data on music listening habits on the go. automobile (and possibly others). The move sparked a lot of speculation about when and if the company would actually sell such a device, and if so, how much it would cost.
In 2021, Spotify started accepting Car Thing registrations, but with a twist: Only Spotify Premium members could apply to get one, and there was no way to guarantee that if you signed up, you’d be admitted to the user list. But those who made the cut did indeed get the device for free, except for a small shipping charge.
Finally, about a year later, in 2022, the company opened up Car Thing sales to anyone, for a one-time price of $90. It followed that announcement by saying it would improve the device’s limited utility (it could really only control Spotify, and you still needed your phone with you for it to work), by letting you control non-Spotify media, too.
But it looks like Car Thing missed its window for success. Citing both “demand for the product and supply chain issues,” the company said it will discontinue the product, a move that will reportedly cost Spotify around $32 million. Existing Car Thing owners will continue to receive support, but the company did not indicate how long that support period might last.
If you don’t mind being a part of a now-defunct product experience, Spotify appears to be selling its remaining Car Thing units at a discount: $50 instead of its regular $90 price.
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