Why the Spotify speaker heralds the end of the open web

If even Spotify is moving towards a walled garden, the open standards that made the web great are in deep trouble

The Spotify app.
(Image credit: M4OS Photos / Alamy Stock Photo)

When the reviews for the Apple HomePod came out recently, they all basically said the same thing: The smart speaker sounds great, but its limitations and closed ecosystem are incredibly frustrating. The number one complaint? The Homepod doesn't work natively with Spotify, the world's most popular streaming service.

Perhaps it wasn't a coincidence then that this week, a job posting by Spotify suggested that the music service was looking to make its own hardware, most likely a smart speaker competitor to the HomePod. In tech, it appears the old adage goes the other way around: If you can't join them, beat them.

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Navneet Alang

Navneet Alang is a technology and culture writer based out of Toronto. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, New Republic, Globe and Mail, and Hazlitt.