Music streaming giant Spotify is known for its software-powered streaming business but the company has long been planning to delve into releasing related hardware. The first hardware that the US company will release is an in-car entertainment system dubbed Car Thing. 
The Spotify Car Thing had earlier this month appeared in certain codes in Apple’s iOS and was even first tested as far back as 2019 but wasn’t released. The company has now taken the wraps off the device, at least for the US market and it is targeted at Spotify Premium subscribers. The device will be available free of charge for its Premium subscribers including shipping.
The Car Thing sports a touchscreen display which should be an LCD panel. There is also a large knob that can easily be gripped and it is used for navigation. It equally features four buttons at the top preset to activate favorite music, Podcasts, playlists functions. Users may decide to change the buttons as desired. The smart device also comes with voice control capabilities.
The Car Thing is designed for cars that don’t have modern in-car infotainment systems like Apple CarPlay or Android Auto installed. The device has a dimension of 4.6 x 2.5 x 0.7 inches and weighs 3.4oz (96g). The device can be set up to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth or through an AUX or USB cable but it has to be connected to the car stereo system.
Spotify Car Thing carries a retail price of $80 but the company is yet to set a timeline when it will be on sale. Sadly, it will only be available to U.S. Spotify Premium subscribers and will be based on an invite-only basis through carthing.spotify.com. We expect the available units to be limited.
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