TEAM 3 Semester 1 Module 1 Group 3 Analysis

Table of contents

1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.1 The Client ................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Client goal .................................................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Overview section ........................................................................................................................ 2

1.3.1 Overview of the report ............................................................................................................... 3 1.3.2 Empirical research ....................................................................................................................... 3

2.0 Problem Area .................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Problem formulation .................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Hypothesis ................................................................................................................................. 4 2.3 Constraints ................................................................................................................................. 5

3.0 Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 5 3.1 Mission, vision and values .......................................................................................................... 5 3.2 SWOT + TOWS ............................................................................................................................ 6 3.3 Qualitative and quantitative research ......................................................................................... 8

3.3.1 Survey ......................................................................................................................................... 8 3.3.2 Usability .................................................................................................................................... 11

3.4 Segmentation ........................................................................................................................... 11 3.4.1 Consumer behavior ................................................................................................................... 12 3.4.2 Personas .................................................................................................................................... 13

3.5 The application market and competitors .................................................................................. 13

4.0 Project management breakdown .................................................................................... 15

5.0 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 15

6.0 Additional future opportunities ...................................................................................... 16

7.0 Literature list .................................................................................................................. 16

8.0 Appendix ........................................................................................................................ 17 8.1 Survey -‐ The questions and results ............................................................................................ 18 8.2 Gantt Chart ............................................................................................................................... 23 8.3 Usability test ............................................................................................................................ 23 8.4 Articles ..................................................................................................................................... 28

1.0 Introduction

What you are about to read is the analysis report about the Danish company Syntonetic and their mobile application Moodagent. Throughout this report we will lean on the information we received during the client brief with Lisa and Casper from Syntonetic. We have been asked to do the analysis as a part of the curriculum, and we hope the findings will be helpful in our task of developing a solid solution for the client, helping them to reach their goal.

1.1 The client Syntonetic was founded in 2000 and is based in Copenhagen. The company is specialized in music with 20 employees covering the fields of developing, design, communication and music analysis. Based on their expertise knowledge they have developed and designed an application called Moodagent where the users can create playlists based on their mood. The application is available for all mobile phones, smartphones, tablets and they recently launched a desktop version. Moodagent is an intelligent application that makes it fast and easy to create playlists based on the users mood, and get music recommendations automatically. It is a music profiling technology that for the first time have unlocked the emotional codes of music, categorizing the music into 34 levels or degrees. The 6 musicians employed in Syntonetic developed a system which recognizes the different moods and genres in music. One could say that they have mapped out the music DNA, based on the 34 value degrees. The system is constantly under further development. After launching the application 18 months ago, the company has been very inconsistent in their business model, on more than one occasion they have changed the price of the app, making it free or payable. They continually spend resources on analyzing music to expand their knowledge on their system.

1.2 Client goal Syntonetic wants to create a coherent Moodagent cross platform experience, to increase the number of users to 50 million within 7 months. In addition the goal is also to maintain their current users.

1.3 Overview section In this chapter we have made an overview of the structure of the report and written about our empirical research.

1.3.1 Overview of the report

Chapter 1 is an overall introduction to the project. We will introduce the client and their goals and write about our empirical research. Chapter 2 is about the problem area. Here we will write the problem formulation. Finally we will write the constraints and hypothesis. Chapter 3 is about Syntonetic and the application market. We will analyze the company, competitors and we will identify the user and their behavior patterns. Chapter 4 is about project management breakdown, here we will write about which tools we have used and why. Chapter 5 is a reflection. Here we will write about criticism of our survey and Syntonetics future opportunities. Chapter 6 is the conclusion. We sum up all of our sub-‐conclusions in a final conclusion. Chapter 7 is a literature list. Chapter 8 withholds appendix.

1.3.2 Empirical research

To make the analysis as adequate as possible, it has been important for us to gain access to as much information about Syntonetic, and their users as possible. In this project we have worked with both primary and secondary data. Primary data is the data, which is collected to satisfy a specific analytical purpose. Secondary data on the other hand is data, which already exists because it is collected for different reasons, than to solve a specific problem area. Secondary data is relatively cheap to collect, but

are also more inaccurate. Primary data has a higher degree of precision and quality, but are more time consuming and expensive to collect.1 Our primary data have been collected from the client brief given Thursday May 5th, personal meeting with Lisa and the rest of the employees from Syntonetic at their office in Frederiksberg. In addition we made a survey, which we used to map out the users behavior and create realistic personas. We have used this information throughout this project, for example to further identify the users and get an understanding of the market they are in and to write down their mission, vision and values to analyze the company. To both back up the findings of our primary data and expand the information, we have used secondary data such as press material and the Internet in terms of articles, forums, blogs etc.

2.0 Problem Area

Syntonetic is with their music application Moodagent a business with a good position on the market, over 5 mill. users and the only company capable of precisely cracking the emotional codes found in music2. Today Syntonetic is facing a series of challenges as the market for mobile application is exploding in size, in the first half of 2010 the mobile application market was worth 2,2 billion dollars, and it is predicted to grow even more after launching applications for tablets as well3. When you are in such a dynamic market with a high competitive level like this, it is our belief that one of the biggest challenges, is to differentiate your application from other applications and constantly re-‐develop, re-‐think and/or re-‐design your product to fit the users needs. The demand for being able to share your experiences with your social network is increasing and has almost become a natural behavior for certain modern media users, this opens up a lot of possibilities in mobile application technology to explore the needs and behavior of the target group and differentiate ourselves from other possible competitors.

2.1 Problem formulation How can we improve Moodagent to create a unique and coherent experience for the user across all platforms, by analyzing the applications strengths and weaknesses to further differentiate the application from other applications and thereby keep the existing users and attract new ones?

2.2 Hypothesis ● In order to get an in depth understanding of the relationship between Moodagent and their

customers, we need to look into how and when people listen to digital music and what platforms they use.

● We need to look into the cultural habits of the target group to learn more about their behavior, in order to provide a solution that adds value to the potential customers.

1 International Marketing 3. edition, page 267-‐270

2 http://www.moodagent.com/about/more-‐about-‐us 3 http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2010/08/20/the-‐mobile-‐application-‐market-‐to-‐nearly-‐triple-‐in-‐size-‐this-‐year/

4 http://www.business.dk/tech-‐mobil/smartphones-‐indtager-‐danske-‐hjem 5 http://www.moodagent.com/ 6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis 7 We refer to appendix 8.1 which include the survey questions and results. 8 We refer to appendix 8.3 which the results of our usability test. 9 The information we used to write this chapter we got from our own research (usability and survey) as well as the

2 http://www.moodagent.com/about/more-‐about-‐us 3 http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2010/08/20/the-‐mobile-‐application-‐market-‐to-‐nearly-‐triple-‐in-‐size-‐this-‐year/

● We believe that smartphones are the way of the future4 and therefore we decided not to take the application on the feature phone into consideration, we therefore only focused on improving the application on smartphones, desktops and tablets.

2.3 Constraints ● Budget of maximum 36 weeks of manual labor.

3.0 Analysis

To analyze Syntonetic as an organization and identify the market and the users, we have made a SWOT/TOWS, surveys and usability tests.

3.1 Mission, vision and values To gain further knowledge about the organization, we have analyzed and written down their mission, vision and values. This information is based on what we have read about them on their website,5 and taken from a personal meeting we had with them Friday May the 6th at their office. Mission The mission holds the thoughts and ideas, on which the organization survives. Their mission is to make Moodagent deliver intelligent solutions that automatically decodes every musical property in songs/pieces‚ including moods and emotions for leading mobile device manufacturers, mobile operators, online music businesses and music streaming services. Along with their partners, Syntonetic offers unique profiling capabilities and share this resource with everyone who enjoys music. Vision The vision is the highest goal of the organization. Syntonetics vision is to be the leading company within their area/market, continually providing their users and partners with the latest, most unique technology worldwide. Values Syntonetic is using their passion for music to create and offer an intelligent music system, making it possible for music lovers to explore music in a new and different way. It is important that every employee is passionate about the product and open-‐minded towards constantly improving Moodagent.

4 http://www.business.dk/tech-‐mobil/smartphones-‐indtager-‐danske-‐hjem 5 http://www.moodagent.com/

3.2 SWOT + TOWS The SWOT will be used to analyze, as this is a strategic planning method to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in the company. It involves the specifying objectives of the project venture and identifies the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve these objectives. To ensure that we add value to all the findings from the SWOT analysis, a TOWS will be provided.6

SWOT/TOWS

Strengths 1. Highly specialized

(Digital Processing) 2. A good understanding of

music 3. Large data sets 4. 5 Mill users in 220

countries 5. Close partnership with

the Blackberry 6. Close dialogue with the

support, to get feedback from the users

7. Close partnership with record companies, both nationally and internationally (SONY)

Weaknesses 1. Inconsistent in pricing

and business model 2. Problems with

recommendation/Not working

3. Lack of further development -‐ no usability tests

4. Price is to high 5. New company -‐ lack of

experience 6. Few features on the

desktop version 7. Not using the full

potential of the technology in the user interface of the application

8. No coherent design and navigation throughout the different platforms

6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis

Opportunities 1. Further develop the

features on the Moodagent

2. B2B market -‐ sell their knowledge to other businesses

3. Google Addwords 4. B2B market -‐ collaborate

with companies with stream services

5. Apples Commercial service -‐ IADDS! = richmedia.

6. Improve the opportunities in using social media

7. Save your music external on a cloud server

MAXI – MAXI S1+S2+S3+O1+O6 Develop more features and improve the user experience across all platforms S1+S2+S3 + O2 Take use of their specialised knowledge to improve the possibilities on B2B -‐ create a blue ocean S7+O4+O2 Improve their business model to create a clear strategy and direction for the company

MINI -‐ MAXI W6 + O1 Use the technology to further develop more features O4+W2+W4 A deal with streaming services for a small fee will give the user a better service O1 + W7 Develop a desktop version of the application that has more features and a more coherent design

Threads 1. New market -‐ Hard to

navigate in 2. Music rights disputes

when it comes to streaming

3. Speed of new development on the application market.

4. Other companies developing an application that can do the same and more

MAXI – MINI S7+T2 Close partnership with the record companies and neutralize the threads from the music industry concerning music rights S6 + T3 The close dialog with the user ensures Moodagent to be able to follow the speed on the application market.

MINI-‐ MINI It is a new market for everybody developing applications. The companies in the field may find strength in collaboration and sharing their knowledge.

Sub conclusion From our SWOT/TOWS analysis we can conclude that Moodagent has many different strategic options, in order to use their strengths and thereby increase the options to ensure a successful placement in the application market. For example if they exploit their music knowledge more, they have several options in dealing with the problems within the problem area. A possible strategy could be to move towards the B2B market, to collaborate more instead of competing. By collaborating with companies with the same level of experience but in another area, it could open up possibilities in creating a unique product and therefor place themselves in a blue ocean.

3.3 Qualitative and quantitative research

3.3.1 Survey7

To get an idea of how the current and potential target group uses music on the different platforms, we conducted a survey. The survey was posted on Facebook and relevant music pages on Facebook to reach the potential users of Moodagent. The survey had 48 respondents, 21 male and 27 female. 72 % of the respondents were in the age group 25-‐34 year old, 15% were in the age group 14-‐24 years old, while 9% were 35-‐44 years old. When asked where they mostly listen to their music the replies from the respondents came out as follows:

64% answered yes on having a smartphone, divided on the following brands:

When asked how many songs they have stored on their phone the respondents had the following replies:

7 We refer to appendix 8.1 which include the survey questions and results.

We asked the respondents to list how they listened to music. The respondents were able to select more than one option. Mp3 files came in as the high score as 22 out of 48 of the respondents listening to music in this format. Second runner up is streaming where 17 out of 48 answers that they stream their music.

When asked how they discover new music 45% of the respondents stated that they discover new music from friends while 30% discover new music from the radio. 32 % of the respondents have a music subscription. The divisions on the different music subscription sites were as follows:

The most popular music player used by the respondents is iTunes music player with 80% usage.

Last we asked the respondents if they purchase music online and 68% answered yes to this question, with the following division on frequency:

Purchases divided on the different stores:

Sub conclusion We found that even though a large number of the respondents has a music subscription, they are most likely to discover new music from the social network or from listening to the radio. From this we conclude that the user of the subscriptions search for music they already know.

Mp3 files are the most popular music format, and a large number of the respondents have more than 500 songs on their mobile phone.

3.3.2 Usability8

We have chosen to make a usability test, because the usability and user experience is of great importance for Moodagent. At our meeting with Syntonetic we found out that they only tested the Nokia version, and that they would like to use more resources on usability testing. Because the Moodagent is on different platforms, we chose to test it on both the smartphone and desktop version. In the usability test we chose to value intuitive usage prior to specific technological knowledge. This choice was implemented in our selection of respondents in the test of the iPhone application and the desktop version. The reason for disregarding the respondents previous knowledge of the given technological devices, is that we wanted to investigate the users’ intuitive interaction with the application, since we believed that this would create valuable findings across the platforms, to be used in the solution phase. Another approach could have been to look deeper into the specific users of the given platforms, which would have resulted in a more narrow perspective. Sub conclusion The results of the usability test gave us a better ideas of Moodagents pros and cons. The user experience was not the same on the different platforms, the majority had a hard time getting started with the iPhone application and figure out the functions and opportunities within the application. However the majority of the test persons liked the design of the iPhone application, but the desktop version had some downfalls, which was a lack of explanations to the functions, and the design were not coherent with the iPhone version, as the elements are placed radically different. They liked the recognizability that after all was present because of the sliders, as it eased the usage substantially. The usability test gave us curtain ideas for further development on both platforms, something we will elaborate on in the solution phase.

8 We refer to appendix 8.3 which the results of our usability test.

3.4 Segmentation Through usability test and from the survey results we have tried to identify the user and their behavior patterns.

3.4.1 Consumer behavior9

The fast growing application market forces companies to understand their users’ needs, in order to meet them. A way to do that is to constantly test your products within the target group, to define their needs, expectations and values. If not the company can risk getting cut off, or lose interest from their users, who will find the required product or service elsewhere. Since Moodagent is digital, we will take a look at some factors influencing the users’ digital shopping behavior. The percentage of individuals between 16-‐74 in the EU who purchased products or services over the Internet, has increased greatly over the last years. The highest propositions of Internet shoppers in 2007 were actually recorded in Denmark. Lots of factors influence the users digital shopping behavior, for example transactions costs, risks, usefulness, personal and situational factors and social norms. Our main focus will be on which of these factors affects the user behavior and the company-‐user interactivity, to get an idea of the target group and their behavior pattern, and what the companies should do to reach and keep this group. With this knowledge we get an overview in which areas Syntonetic should place their focus to optimize the user experience and create loyalty. Our research shows that networking socially on websites such as Facebook and Twitter has a great impact on how we behave, for example the interest in sharing music, feelings and experiences has increased and we tend to influence each other with our opinions on different subjects. Someone’s acceptance of a product or service from our social network is of great importance, and we value their opinion. Therefore it is important for Syntonetic to have socializing features, in that way they can get feedback on their product and let the users market them if however they like the product/ feature. The users behave differently regarding age, and stage in the life cycle. Teenagers often choose different products or brands than their parents or grandparents. The taste changes along with the possibilities, society developments or certain happenings through life i.e. being a parent, marriage, change of job, moving, illness and getting older. Self-‐perception also influences on the user behavior. Because the user often uses the consumption to express Ones personality, one often choose a product or service consistent with Ones self-‐perception.

9 The information we used to write this chapter we got from our own research (usability and survey) as well as the book; “Kotler on marketing” by Philip Kotler

3.4.2 Personas

We have made two personas who we feel represents Moodagents target group.

Christian is a 31-‐year-‐old man, living in Brønshøj with his girlfriend. He works with IT and likes his job, bikes to work every morning and is very dedicated in keeping a healthy lifestyle. After work he typically goes to the gym, or meet up with friends. Christian and his girlfriend are very social and often have friends or family over. Christian usually finds information about new events, products etc. on the Internet, social medias or through friends, whose opinion he appreciates. Christian is a loyal customer when he finds a provider he trusts and have good experience with. He chooses his products or services on the grounds of society/user

trends, prices and accessibility -‐ He knows what he wants and is not willing to compromise. When he is looking for a new product or service he spends a lot of time researching about it on the Internet. For example through forums or other sites with user experiences and/ or ratings. His friends acceptance and recommendations is also an important factor for Christian, when choosing new products.

Karen is a 25 year-‐old single woman living in Copenhagen, Nørrebro. She finished her multimedia designer education last year and is now working full time in an advertising agency, which takes up a lot of her time. When she is off from work, she usually meets up with some of her friends. She spends a lot of time on the Internet, especially on online shopping, blogging and on social networking sites. She is very keen on following new trends, but gets

tired of them just as fast, unless she is very pleased with the product or service. Karen is very into companies that offers her “more”, such as specialized or individualized products, meeting her taste and preferences. Karen's social network are very important to her, as they help her being updated in trends and their opinion is of great value to her. The segment Christian and Karen is representing is very orientated about the latest news in both society and technology. The segment is therefore active and curious in the search for new happenings and products online and through friends. Therefore it is a segments being easy to reach because it is very open and dedicated to new trends and products. It’s a segment in growth and a segment using both time and money on their lifestyle. However, the segment is also a bit difficult to keep, without offering them new or other services.10

10 http://www.b.dk/danmark/danske-‐unge-‐har-‐flest-‐penge-‐til-‐forbrug-‐i-‐norden

3.5 The application market and competitors The application market is both new and enormous. It is a market in constant development and You have to have a unique product to preserve interest among the many users. In the article "Tænk syv gange før i App’er" by Timme Bisgaard Munk they undergo a series of elements which are necessary to secure downloads and awareness of one's application. One of these elements is all about users needs. Due to the application market being relatively new, the need for applications is also new. Often the users are in a situation which they would like to change to something better. That means that the need for applications is the need for "the little extra". Therefore it can often be a need that the users are not aware they have and it can be a challenge to develop applications that is not a current demand. One can instead be based on some basic needs such as recreation and entertainment. When users press an app, they do it because they have a need that this app can satisfy. The app must be based on their needs, not the developers’ needs. Here are the typical four needs at stake: • Users are bored and want to get diversion. • Users will solve a little practical task • Users will connect with their social network • Users will find out what is happening socially, culturally or commercially right now in their mobile phone. If we look at these needs with Moodagent they go in the direction of "that little extra. "Moodagent adds music experience with something extra, to listen to music based on your mood. That is why they combine music and emotions and makes the experience more personalized for the user. The next challenge is to keep the current users. There must be a further development in their product to meet new needs. We will take a further look at in our solution. Before we do that, we will have to take a look at the competitors. We will list up some of the competitors in order to get closer to a solution that will differentiate Moodagent compared to the other actors on the market. Some of the actors worth mentioning are Shazam, which is also a app for the smartphone that recognize music. So in that sense it is a big competitor because of their specialized knowledge in analyzing music. Another competitor is Apples feature Genius, which recommends music based on the music inside your library. Another company is The Echonest that is a American company who provides the B2B market with specialized music knowledge, they have provided their knowledge to the new Goggle Music Beta witch has the same functions as Apples Genius. So the biggest competitors to Moodagent are companies who also specialize in music knowledge.

4.0 Project management breakdown

Group Communication Based upon the starting point of the project, the group made a collaboration agreement, stating due to the nature of this specific assignment. The group have agreed on working from 9:00, till at least 15:00, all weekdays. This means all of us will be part of the analysis process. To manage the group work process and writing the analysis report, we are using free tools found in the cloud cloud computering11 like Google Documents to write the report, or Dropbox to share the different files each student wants to share. Communication A Facebook group has been set up, where all members of the group can post relevant links, and communicate though the social media with the other group members. File Sharing Files, images, relevant PowerPoint shows etc. are going to be shared in a Dropbox folder, that all members of the group will have access to. Report Writing The report is written in Google Documents, where each group member has the opportunity to write on simultaneously. Using Google Documents enables all group members to read what the others have written. Furthermore we will be sitting together to make the report coherent. After finishing the report in Google Documents, will we drag it over to Word to make it more spicy and more catchy, so that the small mistakes will be fixed. Time and tasks Deadlines and assignments are being managed in the Gantt chart, that we all have access through the Google Docs. (see appendix) We have chosen to make the conclusions part and reflections part together to ensure that all group members has understood and agreed on what has been written. The Gantt chart may have been a great advantage in the planning of a start-‐up and further development because it has gives us a great overview of our deadlines, but also for what should be done on the given day.

11 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

5.0 Conclusion

In this conclusion we’ll attempt to sum up on our analysis, thereby answering the questions asked in the problem formulation: “How can we improve Moodagent to create a unique and coherent experience for the user across all platforms, by analyzing the applications strengths and weaknesses to further differentiate the application from other applications and thereby keep the existing users and attract new ones?”

● In working with Moodagent we have analysed the organization and utilizing a SWOT analysis, and from these investigations, we found that Syntonetic has a variety of strategic options available to them, in order to maximize potential and future success on the mobile application market. Our TOWS further indicate that expanding the design features and adding detail to the user interface would be beneficial. Furthermore, the high level of musical knowledge Syntonetic posses, could lead to expanding their target group which include musicians and agencies (Business to Business market).

● From our quantitative research we have gained further insight to the current and potential target groups’ needs and behaviour patterns. One interesting behaviour is that a wast majority of the target group rely on their social network or the radio for musical recommendations. Regarding the device for playback, the smartphone is the gadget of choice. A need for the users, that we’ll try and handle in our solution report, is online streaming of music.

● Our qualitative research leads us to conclude, that Moodagent have a solid, strong product in when talking of concept and design, but have same shortcomings in regards to usability. We’ll take a closer look at this in our solution report.

6.0 Additional future opportunities

Bon our analysis we find that it would be a good idea to explore the opportunities in the B2B market further, in order to build a stronger brand by collaborating with the competitors instead of fighting them. Another way for Syntonetic to reach their goal could be optimizing the social functions within Moodagent and to have this in consideration on all platforms to improve the user experiene.

7.0 Literature list

International Marketing 3. Edition Philip Kotler: “Kotler on marketing” http://www.moodagent.com/about/more-‐about-‐us http://www.moodagent.com/wp-‐content/uploads/Moodagent_3.0_DK_Presse.pdf http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2010/08/20/the-‐mobile-‐application-‐market-‐to-‐nearly-‐triple-‐in-‐size-‐this-‐year/ https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFI1Q2JZeVBENzFhNGVnY2ExRDJSbmc6MQ https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0An4O3NhiJDRgdDhPbXo1YmZDUGxwVjlXWDRuZzZLU1E#gid=0 http://www.b.dk/danmark/danske-‐unge-‐har-‐flest-‐penge-‐til-‐forbrug-‐i-‐norden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

8.0 Appendix

8.1 Survey -‐ The questions and results 1. Which age group do you belong in?

2. Are you male or female?

-‐ 21 male -‐ 27 female

3. Do you own a smartphone?

4. If yes, what kind?

5. How many songs do you have stored on your mobile phone?

6. Which music player are you using on your computer?

7. When do you primarily listen to music on your mobile phone? (max. 2 choices)

8. How are you primarily listening to music?

9. Do you buy music?

10. If yes, where do you buy your music?

11. -‐ And how often do you buy music?

12. If you don’t buy music how do you then acquire music? (type in field)

-‐ Streaming service such as Grooveshark and Youtube -‐ Radio

13. How do you primarily discover new music?

14. If you have a subscription to a music service, choose below:

15. Are you willing to pay for a streaming service?

16. What is the maximum amount you are willing to pay for a monthly subscribtion? -‐ On average the respondents are willing to pay a maximum of 150kr. 17. How often to concerts?

8.2 Gantt Chart

8.3 Usability test We tested 7 people (both male and female) in the age from 21 to 33. The test persons had a variation regarding technical equipment and experience with different digital platforms. When Syntonetics primary product is the Moodagent mobile application, the test persons started testing the application on an iPhone and afterwards they tested the desktop version, and compared the experiences. Person 1: 28 year old male No smartphone (Samsung) PC user Mobile application: He thinks it’s an app for categorizing music in moods, which can create playlists from the music stored on your smartphone, based on the mood you choose. He think the sliders work, but he also thinks he can turn the sliders on and off by clicking on them -‐ he finds it a little confusing when it doesn’t work. After a couple minutes he gets how they work, and how to turn them on and off. When asked to find “recommendations” he uses the quick guide to find out where to click. He likes the design and graphics. When asked to try and share a playlist on facebook, he opens up the quick guide again -‐ when he doesn’t find the answer there he gives up. In general he likes the idea of the app -‐ but thinks it needs to be more precise in defining the songs mood. He misses a feature in which he can edit the songs mood, sort of like: -‐ “I don’t think this song is as happy as it says, can I please change that??” He would like the quick guide to be more informative and central in the app, because he needs help to get started and he wants help along the way. Desktop version: He immediately recognizes the app because of the design. He also recognizes the sliders and quickly finds out how to create a playlist. He cant see what is click-‐able and what is not, because the cursor doesn’t change looks -‐ this is something he expects, so therefore it is confusing. He’s not sure he would use it, because he has something like it in winamp. He likes the design. Person 2: 27 year old male No smartphone but he ownes an iPad Mac user

Mobile application: He doesn’t understand the sliders, he clicks on the quickguide but doesn’t read it. He reads the different moods and suggests that maybe the app will play music from these moods. He feels happy and clicks on happy, but nothing is happening -‐ he clicks play but nothing happens. He eventually clicks on the iPod icon and chooses a song from the library which creates a playlist -‐ he still doesn’t know the sliders function. When asked to create a playlist from his current mood, he doesn’t know how to do it. He tries to create one from the iPhone library. When asked to try and share a playlist on facebook, he clicks on the icon next to the song and then on configure -‐ he finds the connections in configure. In general he likes the idea of mooding music, but he still doesn’t understand how to create his own playlist based on his mood. He doesn’t think the sliders colors and icons fits the five moods. He would like a simpler helping guide, which takes him through one function at a time instead of it all at once. He needs help and doesn’t know where to find it, which frustrates him. He clicks on help in configure, which takes him to a website -‐ he doesn’t like that, he wants the help within the app. Desktop version: High level of recognizability because of the design. He likes that the function of saving a playlist is much more visible on the desktop version than on the application. He still cant figure out the sliders, he wants to drag the tracks to the window on the right side of the screen. When he wants to buy a track he doesn’t like that he is sent to a website instead of being able to buy it directly within the program. He suggest to make it user interactive so that users can rate the songs, recommend tracks and comment on them. He doesn’t think that he would use moodagent because he likes the player he already has. Person 3: 21 year old female Owns a smart-‐phone Mac user Mobile application: She quickly gets the idea of the app. she clicks around and finds out how to work the sliders. She doesn’t understand that the tracks changes when she adjusts the sliders, but eventually she finds out. She thinks the music on the playlist fits the mood she chose. When asked to find the recommendations she finds for one track, but not for the playslist. When asked to share the playlist on facebook, she clicks around but gives up after clicking on everything. In general she likes the idea of “mooding” your music, but she misses the link to facebook and would like that feature to be more visible.

Desktop version: She understands moodagent much better on the desktop version than on the application. She thinks the slider and playlist window on the left is too small and needs to be more in focus than the recommendations window. Regarding the sliders she would like it to be more clear that they slide, maybe a video guide so one would know exactly how they work. She would also like to know how big a percentage of each mood there is in each song. She would like to use this application on the desktop, and she thinks it would be a great feature in iTunes. Person 4: 28 year old male No smartphone Mac user Mobile application: Immediately he clicks on the quick guide to get an idea of how it works. He reads the guide but still doesn’t get the idea of the sliders, instead he waits for the music to start by itself, and tries to click play. He eventually clicks on the iPod icon and chooses a song from the library and it creates a playlist. When the screen changes and the playlist is revealed he realizes that he knows about the application, but he hasn’t tried it. He found out about the app on a news page. He likes the sliders and thinks they work fine. He creates a mood, but he doesn’t think the music fits the mood he chose. When asked to find the recommendations he clicks on the right icon. He would like the ability to purchase music within the app instead of being lead to the store, because he cant find back to the app once he clicked on a track. When asked to share a playlist on facebook he clicks around most of the features but eventually he gives up, the he tries to look for the quick guide but doesn’t find it. Generally he likes the app, nice and simple, but maybe a little too simple due to the fact that he cant find most of the features. He misses a free text search area in the iPod library. He likes the design and especially the idea of the sliders. Desktop version: He likes that he has a better overview of Moodagent because of the bigger screen. He likes the smartphone application better than the desktop version, because it he thinks it seems simpler. He cant see what is click-‐able and what is not, because the cursor doesn’t change looks -‐ this is something he expects, so therefore it is confusing. He would like a guide to take him through all the features in Moodagent when it starts up. He thinks he would use the smartphone application, but not the desktop version. He doesn’t like that the recommendation window is so large, he would prefer to have the sliders and playlist as the main focus, just as they are on the application. The sliders doesn’t seem to be important when they are placed in the small window to the left -‐ this works better on the application because they

are placed in the center of the screen. He feels he is pressured and tricked into buying music, he would just like to use the applications features and not use it to buy music. Person 5: 23 year old male Owns an android smartphone PC user Mobile application: He doesn’t understand how the sliders work and he seems a little lost in what he needs to do to get it started. He eventually clicks on the iPod icon and chooses a track from the library and it creates a playlist. He tries to make a playlist based on his mood, but he cant work out the sliders and thinks the music that is on the playlist comes with the application. When asked to share the playlist on facebook, he finds the function by sliding away from the sliders and he is able to share it correctly. He doesn’t use his smartphone for listening to music but uses his iPod. He doesn’t think he will use this application. Desktop version: He feels it is more clear that it is your own music it uses on the desktop version than on the smartphone application. After playing around on the desktop version he understands how the sliders work and he is able to create a playlist. He doesn’t like the icons on the sliders because he can’t figure out what mood they represent, he liked the application better because it also said with text, which mood the icons represents. He sees it as an advanced form of shuffle and he likes that he can shuffle his music by moods. He likes the design, but he misses a guide to take him through Moodagent and it features -‐ maybe a video guide. Person 6: 33 year old male No smartphone PC user Mobile application: He first goes to the quick guide and reads the instructions, but he doesn’t really get an idea of how the sliders work (thinks they are click-‐able and not slide-‐able), by coincident he slides the “happy” slider just a little and it creates a playlist, but he doesn’t realize that he can work all the sliders himself and by doing so it creates a playlist -‐ he feels lost. When asked to find “recommendations” he clicks on the moodagent logo next to the song title.

He generally thinks the app is a good idea and has a great design, but doesn’t get how it works -‐ he misses a guidance in the beginning, explaining him what its all about. He feels impatient and wants to just drop it because he doesn’t get it, and doesn’t know how to get help. Desktop version: He would like it to start with a guide or some text that says what its all about. He quickly gets how the sliders work and creates a playlist. In general he misses a guide which takes him through how this works, because when you don’t know how it works it doesn’t make much sense. He clicks on the recommendations to check out the recommended tracks. He doesn’t think they match as well as he thought they would. He misses some information about how the technology works. He doesn’t think that he would use Moodagent, he feels impatient because of the missing guidance and help -‐ he wants to give up and thinks the navigation is confusing. Person 7: 21 year old female Owns an iPhone Mac user Mobile application: She first goes to the quick guide, but doesn’t understand how the sliders work. After clicking around for a while, she realizes how the sliders work and creates a playlist based on her mood. Her immediate reaction is “cool”. She likes the design and that you can create a playlist based on your mood. She doesn’t want to buy the recommended tracks on the application, because she feels insecure about the procedure. Desktop version: She likes the bigger screen and feels it gives her a better overview, which makes it simpler. She expects a music video on in the recommendation window when she clicks on one of the tracks. She feels safer buying the recommended tracks on the desktop version.

8.4 Articles

Pressemeddelelse 5. april 2011

Moodagent introducerer revolutionerende teknologi: Musikanbefalinger baseret på stemninger og sted.

På lidt over et år er den dansk udviklede mobilapplikation, Moodagent, blevet verdens mest populære til at lave playlister baseret på stemninger og humør. Nu introducerer Syntonetic, firmaet bag Moodagent, den hidtil største opdatering til iPhone-versionen af Moodagent. Med version 3.0 kan musikelskere for første gang nogensinde få adgang til anbefalinger fra nettet baseret på deres egen musiksamling, aktuelle humør og fysiske placering. Resultatet er en uovertruffen musikalsk oplevelse. Med en enkel, strømlinet brugerflade er Moodagent designet med henblik på at gøre det så intuitivt som muligt at lave playlister og opdage ny musik. Moodagent er den første mobilapplikation, der tilbyder musikanbefalinger baseret på brugerens egen musiksamling. Samtidigt er app’en i stand til at finde numre, der både matcher stemningsmæssigt og musikalsk, ligesom resultaterne er målrettet lytterens geografiske placering. Således vil to brugere, der lytter til det samme nummer, men befinder sig i hver sin del af verden, modtage forskellige musikanbefalinger. En Lady Gaga-lytter i New York vil få resultater, der matcher amerikanske lyttevaner, mens det samme nummer måske vil udløse et K-pop-hit i Korea. Musikanbefalingerne trækker på kataloget fra iTunes Store, der giver mulighed for at høre op til 90 sekunder af hvert nummer på forhånd (afhængigt af det pågældende land). Et køb er blot et par klik væk, så ligger sangen på telefonen og er klar til at indgå i nye playlister. ”De iboende kvaliteter, som gør Moodagent unik og banebrydende, sætter os i stand til at skabe bedre og rigere musikoplevelser for den enkelte lytter” siger Peter Berg Steffensen, CEO hos Syntonetic. ”Ved at tilføje en anbefalingstjeneste til vores service, sætter vi nye standarder for musikoplevelse på farten. Alt sammen funderet i en dyb respekt for musikken selv.” Lyt, udforsk og del musikken Moodagent gør det let at finde den perfekte musik til at matche sin aktuelle sindsstemning. Fortæl Moodagent, hvad du er i humør til ved at vælge en sang fra samlingen eller ved at justere de fem ”mood-sliders”, og du vil automatisk få skræddersyet en playlist ud fra dit eget musikbibliotek. Herfra kan hvert enkelt nummer igen danne afsæt for nye anbefalinger fra iTunes-kataloget, og lytteren kan derfor begive sig ud på en musikalsk opdagelsesrejse fyldt med relevant musik. Moodagent laver automatisk playlister på op til 100 tracks og med den nye anbefalingsservice, bliver muligheden for at udvide musikoplevelsen meget, meget større. Og hvorfor ikke lade vennerne vide, hvad du lytter til? Moodagent er direkte integreret med sociale netværk, og du kan dele det aktuelt spillende track på Twitter, eller hele playlisten på Facebook. Via links i playlisten kan dine venner samtidig lytte til og købe de enkelte numre. Revolutionerende teknologi: Hvordan virker det? Moodagent er en cloud-baseret, intelligent mobilapplikation, som gør det hurtigt og nemt at lave spillelister og få musikanbefalinger baseret på brugerens humør. Moodagents banebrydende teknologi til musikprofilering er den første af sin slags, som præcist kan afkode de emotionelle koder i musik. Baseret på en hybrid af kunstig intelligens og musikvidenskab,


er Moodagent skabt til at opfatte musik på samme måde, som mennesket gør. Således er Moodagent den eneste teknologi, der automatisk kan analysere og forstå hvert eneste stykke musik i verden. Det resulterer i en meget høj kvalitet i sammensætningen af playlister og musikanbefalinger. Det unikke ved at skabe stemningsbaserede playlister er, at sammensætningen bliver varieret og kompleks, men valget af musiknumre vil matche brugerens aktuelle humør. Moodagent ved, at en kunstner ikke kan reduceres til nogle enkelte genremæssige mærkater –David Bowie er ikke blot glam rocker, electro-kunstner eller singer-songwriter, han er alt det og meget mere. Hvert nummer har sin unikke stemningsmæssige profil, som kan passes sammen med andre matchende numre, fra helt andre typer kunstnere. Det giver overraskende sammensætninger, som brugeren sikkert aldrig selv ville have fundet på, men som giver perfekt stemningsmæssig og musikalsk mening. International anerkendelse Moodagent har allerede modtaget et hav af positive anmeldelser for dens evne til at lave intelligente playlister, og var i 2010 placeret blandt favoritterne til den præstigefyldte pris ”Webby” ved 14th Annual Webby Awards. Moodagent har flere end 5 millioner brugere fra over 200 lande, fordelt på de mest populære mobil-platforme, hvilket gør den til verdens førende playlisting-app. Moodagent tilbyder desuden en anbefalings-service til musikafspilleren Winamp, som pt. er installeret hos mere end 3 millioner Winamp-brugere. Moodagent 3.0 er tilgængelig til iPhone/Ipod Touch fra d. 5. April 2011 og koster 30 Kr. I nærmeste fremtid bliver den fulgt af en gratis prøve-version. Desuden frigives versioner til Nokia, Android og BlackBerry i de kommende uger. Moodagent kerne-features

• Moodagent profilerer automatisk musik baseret på følelser, humør, genre, stil, tempo, beat, vokal, instrumentering og produktion.

• Moodagent laver playlister let og hurtigt – indstil blot sliderne eller vælg et seed track. • Gem, afspil og rediger playlister • Del dit humør og din musiksmag på Facebook og Twitter • Headset control: Alle standard headset-kommandoer til iPhone virker med Moodagent,

inklusiv pause af musikken, når telefonen ringer.

Nye Moodagent features

• Musikanbefalinger: Du kan få online-anbefalinger ud fra hvert enkelt track på playlisten • Bedre “mood” kontrol: Det er nu muligt at tænde og slukke for de enkelte sliders. • Køb online anbefalinger on-the-go gennem iTunes • Lyt til et uddrag af anbefalingerne før du køber


Hvem står bag Moodagent? Moodagent er udviklet af Syntonetic Media Solutions, en dansk virksomhed, som har specialiseret sig i at levere løsninger til førende mobiltelefonproducenter, operatører, online musikbutikker og streaming-services. Virksomheden har derudover udviklet den populære playlist-applikation, Moodagent, til brugere af smartphones. Mere end 5 millioner brugere fra over 200 forskellige lande har synkroniseret over 4 milliarder sange gennem Moodagent. Syntonetic er beliggende på Frederiksberg, Danmark. Læs mere om virksomheden og Moodagent på www.moodagent.com eller på Facebook www.facebook.com/moodagent

Pressekontakt: Casper Falbe Moodagent/Syntonetic 1 Sylows Allé, 2000 Frederiksberg [email protected] + 45 6064 4446 Skype: casperfalbe

Camilla Kempf Pallis Moodagent/Syntonetic 1 Sylows Allé, 2000 Frederiksberg [email protected] +45 4037 0140 Skype: camillapallis

Blog Business Services Conference Login / Register

iFlowReader ShutsService, ...A P P L E

US in new push tobreak China ...A S I A

Can you tell Arialfrom Helvetica? ...D E S I G N & D E V

Google sets aside$500M for ...G O O G L E

H O M E A B O U T T E A M A D V E R T I S E C O N T A C T

[email protected] A R T O F T H E N E X T W E B F A M I L Y

A B O U T T H E A U T H O R

Alex Wilhelm is a Chicago-basedwriter. He has worked for a number oftechnology companies in recent years,and has a particular interest inwatching the social web monetize.Follow Alex on Twitter, or onFacebook. You can reach Alex via

A L L S T O R I E S

T O P S T O R I E S

C H A N N E L S

A P P S

A P P L E

D A I L Y D O S E

D E S I G N & D E V

E N T R E P R E N E U R

E V E N T S

F A C E B O O K

G A D G E T S

G O O G L E

I N D U S T R Y

L I F E H A C K S

L O C A T I O N

M E D I A

M O B I L E

M I C R O S O F T

S E S S I O N S

S H A R E A B L E S

S O C I A L M E D I A

T W I T T E R

V I D E O

R E G I O N S

A F R I C A

A S I A

E U R O P E

L A T I N A M E R I C A

M I D D L E E A S T

E D I T I O N S

A U S T R A L I A

C A N A D A

F R A N C E

I N D I A

N E D E R L A N D

P O L A N D

P O R T U G A L

R O M A N I A

R U S S I A

U K

U N I T E D S T A T E S

The Mobile Application Market To NearlyTriple In Size This Year

0 Like The Mobile Application Market To Nearly Triple In Size This Year http://tnw.to/16ijX via @thenextweb

The numbers are in, and the math is staggering: themobile application market is exploding in size.According to Research2Guidance, a German mobileresearch company, the mobile application market wasworth a whopping 1.7 billion dollars in 2009.

For the first half of 2010, that number jumps to 2.2billion dollars. If we assume that the market does notgrow any more this year, and merely maintains its current sales rates, then we canexpect the mobile application market to finish the year worth 4.4 billion dollars, nearly atripling of 2009′s impressive numbers.

However, if we expect that market to grow say, 25% more this year, then we wouldexpect the it to end the year at a total size of 4.95 billion dollars. However you slice it,whatever projections you include, the numbers are staggering.

The mobile market should continue to heat up with Chrome OS devices in the pipeline, acoming slew of Android tablets, the BlackPad, and so forth. Smartphones have so far ledthe charge in terms of the mobile application sales and development, but it seems thattablets are going to take the baton and help grow the market even faster.

It does not seem out of the question, assuming that the global smartphone and tabletmarkets grow at their current clips, that the mobile application market could top$10,000,000,0000 in 2011.

R E L A T E D S T O R I E S

HTC Posts Fourth Consecutive Monthly SalesRecord, Up 126.5% Year On Year

Report: Mobile Handset Market To Rebound In2010

HTC Posts June Sales Revenue, Up 66.68% YearOn Year

20/08/2010, Alex Wilhelm

Send Be the firstof your

F OL L OW TNW MOBIL E ON: SOURCES: Image Credit, Source

Email address here for news in your inbox

Click here for more ways to follow TNW

P O P U L A R A C R O S S T N W

49% of Indians access web throughmobile100k Facebook Apps have leaked userdata

10 Ways to Extend Gmail

This couldn't happen twice could it?

Microsoft Buys Skype For $8.5 Billion

Do you own your content?

Groupon NOW has gone live!

Apple Finally Uploads WebKit SourceCode

A D V E R T I S I N G

P O D C A S T

RSSSubscribe

500KFollowers

100KFans

Breaking Storiesas they happen

DailyTop stories

WeeklyTop stories

Find us on Facebook

Bruno Chakard Sakulsri Chandar Claire

Brandon Aditya Romain Bo Roman

The Next Web

19,519 people like The Next Web.

Like

Facebook social plugin

Today Week

P R E V I O U S S T O R Y N E X T S T O R Y

Facebook. You can reach Alex via

email at [email protected]

L O G I N W I T H

O R

O R , O L D S C H O O L :

Username

Password

J O I N

Your Name

Username

Email address

Password

Confirm Password

P E O P L E W H O R E A D T H I S A L S O R E A D

0 C O M M E N T S & P I N G B A C K S

1. Ben Joven said:These numbers don’t include the development investment that Fortune

2000 companies are going to spend with developers to develop theirapplications.

T R A C K B A C K S

1. WatchesShopStore.Com says: August 27, 2010 at 6:33 am

Casio Men’s Pathfinder Triple SensorAltimeter/Barometer/Digital Compass Watch #PAG40-3V…

I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on

my weblog …

2. A Market that Is Tripling in Size! says: October 21, 2010

at 11:35 am

[...] The Mobile Application Market To Nearly Triple In Size This

Year The Mobile Application Market To Ne… The numbers are in,

and the math is staggering: the mobile application market is

exploding in size. According to Research2Guidance, a German

mobile research company, the mobile application market was

worth a whopping 1.7 billion dollars in 2009. [...]

T O C O M M E N T , P L E A S E L O G I N O R S I G N U P B E L O W

S I G N U P T A K E S 2 0 S E C O N D S , I F Y O U ' R E S L O W .

Androidcontinued todominate the…( T N W M O B I L E )

Amazon hasalready placedorders with…( T N W M O B I L E )

Having toconnect a brandnew iPhone or…( T N W A P P L E )

Google’s MusicBeta iTunescompetitor…( T N W G O O G L E )

Avoid This Scam:Who ViewedYour FacebookProfile?( R E A L S I M P L E )

Reply

CommunityCommunity What's this?What's this?

How to earn How to earn Points Points

FriendsFriends My ProfileMy Profile

Weekly Monthly

670Paul SawersLevel 5 - Fan

#1

540Jelle VerkleijLevel 6 - Super Fan

#2

530Anmol Sarita Bahl(Precious)Level 6 - Super Fan

#3

500Aldert GreydanusLevel 4 - Challenger

#4

Do you have what it takes?Do you have what it takes?Sign upSign up or or Sign inSign in ..

Paid Distribution

Top FansTop Fans

The Next Web Conference 2011 is now behind us. We've had a great timeand met a lot of interesting people. Behind the scenes we are alreadyhard at work organizing TNW2012. More on that later.

Check out all the blogposts we wrote at The Next Web blog or check outour backchannel.

Want to share your opinion on the event? Use hashtag #TNW2011.

New and notable from across TNW

iFlowReader ShutsService, Blames Apple

US in new push tobreak China censors

Can you tell Arialfrom Helvetica?

Google sets aside$500M for ad probe

Sina to OperateSamsung App Store

Chrome laptop forstudents at20$/month

RenRen shares startto decline

Partners

Copyright 2011 The Next Web. All Rights Reserved. About Contact

Subscribe & Follow: Synes godt om

TEAM 3 Semester 1 Module 1 Group 3 Analysis

Documents

Transcript of TEAM 3 Semester 1 Module 1 Group 3 Analysis