That Spotify and Apple don’t get along very well it is known. The two are not only in direct competition in the streaming music market, but have also repeatedly found themselves against each other for legal issues, with the accusation that on several occasions Spotify has addressed Apple to get in the way, apply anti-competitive measures. A series of consequences have arisen from the poor feeling between the two, including the HomePod does not support Spotify for quite some time.
Then Apple retraced its steps and made dialogue possible, except that at that point it was Spotify that got in the way, so the Swedish streaming giant’s app on HomePod doesn’t actually work. Now it is Spotify that has to introduce support for HomePod, and what to some might have seemed a formality should instead have long times. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman touched on the matter in the latest Power On, after speaking with sources inside the streaming company.
Spotify reportedly said it didn’t prioritize HomePod because, he argues, not particularly interesting for subscribers. On Spotify’s lack of support for HomePod, the internal source allegedly said, there weren’t a significant number of complaints, even if reading social networks and Reddit in particular suggests that the basis of the choice is not a generalized disinterest from part of the subscribers but yet another spite in a battle that seems endless.
After all Spotify is one of the most popular services for iPhone owners, so the reason why those who own a HomePod (who in all likelihood also have an iPhone) should have no interest in listening to music on the app escapes us. Spotify is said intending to implement AirPlay 2, “in the future” However. When is unclear, but reading between the lines it seems far from imminent support.
