It's not difficult to imagine a world where Spotify actually cared about the long-term success of a "hardware version of the app", and what that might look like. What is difficult, is given the feature set, how they might think such a device would ever compete with a smart phone with the Spotify app installed.

It's possible they wanted their own small, self-contained "infotainment system" (like the Sirius XM satellite radio streaming devices from the 2000's which were self-contained) without the pesky UI locks the vehicle applies while in motion. But since you must pair this device with Bluetooth anyway (something my car absurdly doesn't allow while in motion), as the article states, why not just use the phone with the app?

And "Car Thing"...is that name the best they could do?