“Second, rising inflation and components costs, coupled with the expanded lead time needed to order parts has significantly altered the risk/reward of continuing to lean into further product development.” Spotify Software First, we tested a number of price points and we frankly haven’t seen the volume at the higher prices that would make the current product financially viable,” Spotify CFO Paul Vogel said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call. “Looking specifically at Car Thing, our decision to stop manufacturing the device was made based on a few factors. Despite that apparent optimism, Spotify decided that there wasn’t enough demand for the Car Thing to match the cost of manufacturing them, especially with the current global supply chain issues and inflation. Spotify was very bullish about the Car Thing, even pushing software upgrades to allow drivers to make calls and play content from third-party streaming services. ReadSpeaker’s VoiceLab tech provides the voice users hear when they say “Hey Spotify” or ask the AI to read any text on the screen. Spotify’s voice assistant relays requests from drivers, aided by a touchpad and joystick. Spotify debuted the Car Thing in a three-month limited release Spotify designed the Car Thing as a way to encourage and streamline access to its services. Existing Car Things will still work and the remaining stock is on sale for half the original $80 price, though shutting down production cost Spotify $31.4 million and hurt its margins in its latest quarterly earnings. Spotify has stopped making the Car Thing media player just nine months after launching the voice-enabled audio player.

What is spotify car thing