Spotify Stops Making Dash-Mounted 'Car Thing' Just Five Months After Launch

[Makosuke]

Based on several factors, including product demand and supply chain issues, we have decided to stop further production of Car Thing units.

How can you have supply chain issues for a product nobody is buying?

It's sort of possible: You couldn't even build enough to supply the small number of people who actually want one.

Which still means the real problem was product demand, but at least you can say it would have been less bad without the supply chain problems and pretend that maybe if you'd shipped any it would have gotten word of mouth going.

Still, only having wasted $32M on a product cancelled after 5 months isn't even in the running as far as hardware flops go when you have the Microsoft Kin standing on top of that particular pile of manure.

 

[XXPP]

"Spotify overall beat its own estimates for sales and earnings, but it continues to remain unprofitable. Its net loss in the quarter was $197 million (€194 million), on sales of $2.9 billion (€2.864 billion)."

Welcome to the new economic world.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

I actually like the idea of the device, but it was way too overpriced.

 

[Johns12]

I actually surprised your 2008 doesn’t have any native Bluetooth audio. Thought that was pretty standard in the early 2000s.

Very few early 2000 cars had Bluetooth audio. My wife's 2008 Audi A6 has Bluetooth for calls but not for audio.

 

[JippaLippa]

How can you spend 32 mil $ on something like this?
Would have been better to work on Spotify High-Fi and inlcude it in the premium subscription.
Apple music UI might br clunky (and it is), but at least if offers you lots of features for one simple 9$ subscription.

 

[imnotthewalrus]

On the plus side they're on sale 🤣

Car Thing

carthing.spotify.com

Still too expensive...

 

[smeagol]

A solution looking for a problem 🤦‍♂️

 

[R3k]

Should have just offered it free for those who have a one year subscription model

Spotify wants to make money, not spend 32 million so they can cut their margin on Premium users.

 

[d686546s]

I can actually see a use case for this, even in 2022, provided your car doesn't have Car Play -- and I think people here overestimate how widespread it actually is -- and you drive a lot.

I used to spend the better part of 12hr shifts in a 48hrs workweek in a car. Assume a lot of times the mounted phone will serve as a satnav, it becomes really convenient if you can interact with your music without jumping back and forth between apps while driving. I can absolutely see how this would make my life easier.

But does it make my life $99 easier? Probably not. I think if the above was still my life (and I still used Spotify) I might have been tempted at around $20-30, so there's that.

 

[Makosuke]

"Spotify overall beat its own estimates for sales and earnings, but it continues to remain unprofitable. Its net loss in the quarter was $197 million (€194 million), on sales of $2.9 billion (€2.864 billion)."

Welcome to the new economic world.

Unless the info I came up with online is wrong, the company has never turned an annual profit, whether as a public or private enterprise.

I read an article recently that summed this sort of business model up nicely as the Urban Millennial Lifestyle Subsidy. Tech investors desperate to own the Next Amazon have pumped what are effectively billions of dollars of subsidies into services like Uber, Spotify, Grubhub, and so on, that generally cater to younger urban folks offering them a too-good-to-be-true deals by losing fabulous amounts of said investor capital (with a side of cruelly underpaid gig workers).

(Almost) everybody wins as long as that investor cash can prop things up.

 

[v0lume4]

Kind of a bummer. I would have been one of the people in the target market for this. My car doesn’t have any phone integration whatsoever.

Terrible name though. I was always puzzled by “Car Thing”.

 

[nickawhite]

So glad I got one when I did! Love mine and use it every single time I'm in the car.

 

[nickawhite]

Not a fan of devices that mount on an AC vent grill. Just seems cheesy and cheap.

Agreed! But this comes with three mounts. The one I use is the CD player mount, which inserts into the CD slot. Perfect because I never use the CD player and it's not blocking any vents.

 

[nickawhite]

Kind of a bummer. I would have been one of the people in the target market for this. My car doesn’t have any phone integration whatsoever.

Terrible name though. I was always puzzled by “Car Thing”.

I think they still have some stock you could snap up! Would recommend it - love mine and use it every day.

 

[BeefCake 15]

The sad thing is there is someone making millions of dollars who approved this idea like it was a home run....

 

[coolfactor]

So ... aimed at Premium subscribers, the same market segment that already likely has disposable income and are more likely to have newer, modern cars with infotainment systems.

Hmmm, real winning strategy there. 😆

 

[nickawhite]

It’s worse than that even, before CarPlay we still had Bluetooth audio in cars. This thing was designed for literally no one. Or, I guess designed for people with cars from 1999.

My 2007 doesn't have BT. This device works perfectly for me. Might not be for everyone, but it has been a godsend for people like me.

 

[nickawhite]

I honestly don't get this device at all. Why is it better than just mounting my phone?

I like mine because it is a dedicated device. I can leave my phone in my bag, don't get any distracting notifications, and the music automatically starts where I left off when I turn my car on. It's been a godsend for my 2007 car and perfectly fit my needs.

 

[Konigi]

Spotify just struggles to keep existing features working. No wonder their developing projects are a flop.

 

[nickawhite]

Kind of a bummer. I would have been one of the people in the target market for this. My car doesn’t have any phone integration whatsoever.

Terrible name though. I was always puzzled by “Car Thing”.

Love mine - and now on sale. I combine it with an FM transmitter and it works flawlessly. Starts music automatically when I turn on car - can leave phone in bag/pocket and never touch it. And no distractions with notifications from apps.

 

[Sorig]

Couldn’t even come up with a name for it.

 

[djcraze]

I got a test unit. I love the thing. I think $90 is a bit steep for it though. Maybe $40, tops.

 

[_Spinn_]

Why am I not surprised? I wish Spotify would completely go away. I hate that they are buying up podcasts and locking them behind their app.

 

[starman111]

I remember reading an article in 2008 that basically said the iPhone had completely changed the mobile electronics market forever. If you have a job where you're developing an electronic product that only does one thing, then you need to start looking for a new job.

Apparently Spotify didn't get the memo.

 

[randomthoughts]

“FROM THE CREATORS OF ZUNE COMES… CAR THING!”