Spotify teases special launch event: Company may be on the verge of releasing its first hardware later this month

Alex Lee April 9, 2018

Spotify seemingly isn’t resting on its laurels a week after the streaming giant’s momentous direct public listing on the New York stock exchange, in which the company smashed expectations, valuing at $26 billion (£18 billion).

Spotify teases special launch event: Company may be on the verge of releasing its first hardware later this month

The company has now revealed it will be holding a special event on 24 April, but rather than just an event for celebratory back-slapping after it smashed expectations, rumours suggest the event will be used to launch Spotify’s first hardware device.

Rumours of a dedicated Spotify hardware device have been making the rounds ever since a job ad was posted in February, but we haven’t been able to figure out what form that will take. Until recently, many have assumed that it would be a smart speaker to rival Apple’s HomePod, but Spotify’s recent focus on in-car support, including a notification from February, could suggest otherwise.

Back in February, Spotify users took to Reddit and the official forums to query a fishy notification they had received about a dedicated in-car device. According to various reports, the device would come bundled with Amazon Alexa and would cost $12.99 to $14.99 a month. The rumoured device would have physical buttons and track controls, and potentially even have 4G built in. Everyone who received the notification only received it once, and weren’t able to view more information about the device when clicking a pre-order link.

Sticking to the company line on the official support forums, a Spotify representative explained that the company is “always testing things to improve Spotify”, but it doesn’t “‘have any news on it”.

Elsewhere, the company recently put out a job advert for an operations manager on a new hardware project, which details that Spotify is “on its way to creating its first physical product”. Last month, the company announced a partnership with Cadillac, releasing a dedicated Spotify app to all Cadillac’s new cars, and will apparently roll out to Chevrolet and Buick cars in the future.

Just considering smart speakers’ increasingly competitive market, and speculation around this dedicated device for cars could hold more weight.