The whole thing might as well have been a joke

A spokesperson for Spotify, talking to TechCrunch:

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.

I am shocked to learn that Spotify’s Car Thing, despite its obvious usefulness, bargain price, and excellent product name, is a failure (!) It is hard to understand what Spotify tried to prove or accomplish with this one.

TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden adds:

The device was only really launched earlier this year, and it is still being sold as of this story going out, but with big discounts. Spotify will support those that have been sold, but it seems that this will be the end of the line for Spotify’s much-discussed move into hardware.

I remember discussing this product with a few coworkers and none of them understood what it does, or why someone would need it, let alone for the initial price of around 90 euros. Even today, I am not sure. I think it can be described as a wired Bluetooth remote that can be mounted in a car, maybe. Not only it is — in my humble opinion — a dumb idea for a product, but I think its failure was also accelerated by what I would call over-the-top BS marketing, a real epidemic this one.

If you visit the website for Car Thing, you are only able to read bullshit slogans in big letters like “Car Thing is Spotify’s hardware device designed for your drive,” “Upgrade your ride,” or “Car Thing is your thing if music is your thing.”

It all sounds cool and I’m sure it looked good in the Figma wireframes prior to the launch. I’m sure everybody in the marketing team was impressed with the copywriting. But the truth is that none of these phrases really tell anything about the product, and you have to spend a few minutes digging into the website to finally begin to understand what it brings or why someone would need it. The video doesn’t explain anything either, it just looks cool.

Maybe the marketing team knew the product was a dud, and explaining what it does in plain text just seemed so pointless and stupid that they decided to go the way of nonsensical formulas; basically the marketing way of sweeping something under the rug: obviously the problem is still there, but at least it looks clean.