Gruber is overlooking the Sharper Image factor, though: it’s a limited use product with more engineering put into marketing than design. “Who wants a phone-sized remote control for their phone?” “At least when Amazon and Facebook tried making their own branded phones, they were actually phones,” blogger John Gruber commented.
It does, however, require an actual phone to be connected to it to use your existing phone’s data connection. It also may have the form factor of an iPhone 4, but without the ability to make calls, tell you the weather, look up directions, or traffic reports, or anything else.
If that is sounding a lot like a car radio, that’s basically what it is, except this one can only play Spotify. It also looks like an older generation iPhone, with the exception of a large knob on the front which can be used to “browse, select, play, pause and discover.” You can also program “four preset buttons” - probably fewer than there are on an existing car stereo - with shortcuts. Spotify executives launch a new product marketed mainly at people like Spotify executives. “Car Thing” clamps on to your dashboard and responds, Siri-like, to hands-free voice commands beginning with “Hey Spotify…” and instructions to play or shuffle songs. It’s called “Car Thing” - that’s really it’s name - and it’s a new device created and sold by Spotify itself. Embattled by angry musicians pulling their catalogs and angry fans canceling their subscriptions, Spotify has announced it is launching a new phone that is not a phone but a remote control to command the phone you already have.
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