Spotify could do the same thing for the vehicle market adding affordable displays to old beaters. If you remember way back then, Roku became insanely popular due to being able to turn old “dumb” TVs into smart TVs that could run Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX). The Car Thing actually reminds me a lot of early-stage Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU). Integration with other apps would also be vital. Imagine Spotify adding features like GPS navigation or Text to Voice capabilities to read and answer text messages.

Therefore Car Thing really has a market and a lot of potentials. Not everyone can afford an EV with a fancy display that costs upwards of $50,000. In fact, the dashboards of a lot of the older vehicles on the road can be downright Victorian. Remember that not all cars come with the fancy iPad-style displays that modern Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) have. In other words, Spotify is carefully positioning the hardware to be like an affordable in-car display. It also has basic media controls for other apps. On the interface, users can see incoming calls and answer or reject them. Right now Car Thing is able to perform basic phone controls functions. If it pans out, the Car Thing could be a future driver of SPOT stock’s performance. Being able to control your Spotify account on decent hardware is nice - but what else can it do? While the current feature set of the Car Thing is pretty cool, what the future holds is what gets me really excited. Playing a song will be as easy as saying “Hey Spotify, queue Cardie B'” or “Hey Spotify play something upbeat”. The Car Thing also comes with voice support as well. Simply tap an icon or hold down the dial. You can now put songs and podcast episodes easily onto your playlist. The company is adding the heavily requested “add to queue” option.

However first major update for the gadget is launching a whole host of new features. After all, the phone itself can be used as a sort of display. The initial reactions were mixed as reviewers praised its sleek design but questioned the point of it all. You connect the Car Thing to your phone and Premium Spotify account via Bluetooth - and voila, hands-free music while you drive. It looks like a typical sleek car display and has a magnet that you can place on your dashboard. It’s basically a car display specifically for Spotify that mirrors whatever is on your phone. After much hype, Spotify finally launched “Car Thing” its first foray into actual physical hardware.

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