Spotify's rumored smart speaker could launch this month

Two months ago, we told you that based on job postings made by Spotify, the world's largest music streamer was apparently in the process of building a smart speaker. Last month, we passed along video that showed Spotify testing its own in-house voice search feature. This could mean that instead of using Alexa or Google Assistant, Spotify is creating its own for use with the smart speaker. The device would compete against Amazon's leading Echo line, the Google Home smart speakers, Apple's HomePod and others.

The company has now sent out invitations for an event to be held on the morning of April 24th in New York City. Not only do we expect the company to unveil a smart speaker, yesterday we told you that there could also be an in-car speaker that is introduced at the same event. The goal of both products is to drive Spotify's revenue higher. The smart speaker will no doubt stream music and could guide users toward Spotify's premium service priced at $9.99 a month. The in-car speaker will reportedly be priced at $12.99 a month including equipment and streaming services. However, it would appear that a one-year commitment will be required.

Spotify just became a public company, which means that to attract investors, it will need to show revenue growth. Adding hardware products to drive new subscriptions seems to be the game plan. As far as the bottom line is concerned, Spotify has yet to turn a profit in the nine full years that it has been operating.

source:  TheVerge