(5) Critique on Apple Music iPad app

APPLE MUSIC

I'm going to focus on 2 points: UI/UX and Commercial potential.

UI/UX
The group analysed the annoying points of Apple Music.

• Wall of text on artists page that is distracting and useless
• Buttons everywhere
• Dropdown bar has too many options
• Unclear texts-- can't read. 

These are true painpoints for Apple music users and really confusing for users. Creating a good UX is extremely important for Apple who's rolling out a new service. Apple already has an advantage as an established brands, so user acquisitions is not really a difficult thing for them since there's so many diehard Apple fans who's super willing to try any Apple service/product. But face it, users will still leave if the UI/UX sucks. And Apple always champion on simplicity, so a confusing and messy app certainly turns their loyal fans off a lot!!

Group3 also mentioned that Apple should just focus on the music service and execute it perfectly.

Apple's connect service tries to be like Instagram where people can like, comment and share. However, it is not working with people as the number of likes is pathetic. It is important for the group to point out this part because it shows that Apple Music is still at an infant stage and further refinement has to be done to enhance the app. Also, a very important lesson to all new apps like Apple Music: Focus on your core product; what works for others do not necessarily work for you.

Commercial potential

Commercial potential is extremely important for music streaming services because the music industry is booming and more and more people are turning to music streaming.

The group calculated that Apple will rake in $99.9million per month with a mere 1% subscription from it's current user base. This number is based on the number of 1 billion iOS devices shipped. But there's a slight flaw in this calculation because number of iOS devices shipped ≠ number of Apple users. In fact, most Apple users have at least 2 iOS devices. So they would only need to pay for 1 price $9.90. Also, with the family membership, up to 6 people in the family can share the cost of $14.99/month.

Instead of giving the estimated subscription value in numbers, maybe the group can focus on how artists can promote/advertise on Apple music should Apple music gets more users onboard. Furthermore, Taylor Swift has successfully made a few music labels be more receptive towards Apple Music since Apple has promised to pay the musicians. Good relationships with the artists can even further suggest collaborations like music concerts, etc. Therefore, the revenue will come not just come from subscription, but also advertising and collaborations.

My Original Thoughts on Apple Music
When Apple Music first arrived, my first thought was - "Alright, Spotify is gonna die...". I was looking primarily from the competition perspective. I wasn't really thinking much about the UI/UX because as much as I have 3 Apple devices, I'm still not a user of Apple music. Lol. Too lazy to change.

• User base: Apple Music has the Apple branding and it will encourage a lot of Apple users to take up the platform since Apple gives 3 month free trial to users as well as some family bundle price. Essentially, the topic goes back to the Apple ecosystem. It wants to trap many people to be in the ecosystem so that everything can be synchronised nicely. 
• Company: Spotify is a startup. Apple is an established company. The amount of cash Apple hold is more than enough even if Apple music's fails (mind you, Apple's cash= $200 billion). Therefore, it is totally reasonable and worth it for Apple to take on this risk to expand their foray into music streaming. This means that Apple is willing and capable of compromising their profit margins to motivate user acquisitions. Once user is onboard, the trial 3 months is to get them be used to Apple Music and if user retention is successful after the trial period, they will be able to keep them in the Apple ecosystem and roll out more monetization features to make up the initial margin loss. Tough fight for Spotify who has been bleeding terribly.  

 On hindsight, after yesterday's presentations (and over the past few weeks of lessons and assignments), I think I have developed a more acute sense towards UI/UX. I have started to pay more attention to UI features like screen real estate usage, list of options from the dropdown bar, etc when I'm using my own apps. One very important thing that I've learnt is that, native apps are better because it is developed for the app's needs. Web ≠ iPhone ≠ iPad. Different sizes, different typing method, different experiences. So curating the app to the specific device matters. People use different devices for varying purposes.

On a side note, really thankful for Assignment 2 teammate Zheng Yi for tanking the presentation. Lost my voice on Sunday night when I was supposed to be presenting for the group on Monday..... :(

(4) Zendesk Sharing + Update on Assignment 1 & 2 + meow

**TLDR nvm! Scroll down to BONUS section for overwhelming cuteness!**

I have heard about Zopim and Zendesk way before Monday's class, but I never expected myself to be sitting in a talk by its founder. So I was really excited tbh. For some reason, when Bjorn started talking, my instinct told me that he's a business dude. Lol, I was right. All along, I was expecting CS3216 guests to be developers/CS background and all. So I was rather pleasantly surprised.

Growth hacking was something not too unfamiliar. Hmm, the way Bjorn pushed his apps up the ranking, may be a little debatable... But face it, that's how apps or things in general gain attention. If we look at our own behaviour, who would have scrolled all the way to, say the 200th app? We want those popular apps, and we are never gonna find new apps if it's not propped up. So I would say it's legit.

Wenxiang. Oh wow. This guy is pretty amazing. Hmmm, I might not have understood fully the technical difficulties he has gone through for Zopim. But from the entrepreneurship point of view, I see how difficult it is for him to accept the 2-3 years of uncertainty. No salary, No stable job, family pressure, etc... It's really tough. and one thing most important that I learnt was that, the originality of the idea is not exactly the most important thing. I always have this belief that for something to take off, it has to be innovative and so it can WOW the world. But live chat is NOT new at all. So it turns out, the winner is the one who can come out with the best of that idea and who has a bit of luck as well. I'm the kind who believes in everything we do, there's still this 10% luck factor that is beyond control.

A small observation...
I think many students (including myself) are constrained by the fact that if they gonna develop a B2B thing, it's difficult to find users (i.e businesses) to test it out and Bjorn's way do not work with B2B apps. Then students will start constraining themselves to do something related to school/younger people because it's easier to find users. That's really undesirable. There are already many apps out there that are serving the normal consumers. Enterprises today have recognised the efficiency of technologies and are more open to embrace them. There IS a gap to serve, and enterprises are the ones desperate for efficiency. Zopim is a real example. Looking forward to pitching party.

Assignment updates
Assignment 1:
Yesssss... We've narrowed down our scope! We have much more focus right now and we also found a way to serve those non-target audience. Hmm, I think only in Final Project then will the business part comes in more... So sometimes, I feel really sian that I can't help my coders. But alright, focus on UI/UX and testing! :D

Assignment 2:
Had a meeting with my team yesterday. We chose on Pinterest. I didn't know there's so much flaws in its UI/UX. My teammates were able to point out things that I myself didn't even notice. Learning from each other everyday! :)

**BONUS!!!**

Oh well, I know Colin reminded us that the blog should be relevant to class.... but whatever, seek forgiveness than permissions (Tan, Aug 2015) HAHA

I think Colin has some obsession over cats? OKAY I MEGA LOVE CATS TOO. I think nala is cute, but hmm, maybe too mainstream HAHA OOPS. Anyway, I think I follow more cats than humans on Instagram lol. Scottish fold is my favourite breed <3

For those who are interested, these are some of my favourite cats I absolutely love.
hmmm Maybe I should end off every post with a cat feature hahaha..

Roku, Scottish fold from Bangkok.

He is really famous. He endorsed Dyson fan in Thailand.

He has a wife (@hachithecat), 4 kids, and one of his kids is gonna be a mother soon!

Your mouse, my pillow ☺️

A photo posted by Roku Roku (@rokuthecat) on Jul 29, 2015 at 4:48am PDT 

march_2nd from Korea

This cat... has this attitude/forever-angry face, that's why I love it haha.

Its fur is really of TOP quality OMG. So smooth, I can't even...

에어컨 최최고 명당 으음 시원하구냥😪

A photo posted by 보리밭😺🌾 (@march_2nd) on Jul 23, 2015 at 8:32pm PDT

Albert, a munchkin from LA

It looks friggin like a TOY!

This is how we do. #sundaynight @petsmart✌ #petsmart #petsmartcart #weeklyfluff

A photo posted by Albert 🎩 (@albertbabycat) on Jul 26, 2015 at 5:48pm PDT

Dooboo (brown) and Tongki (grey), Korea
I watched tongki grew up, from a little kitten to now... a FAT cat haha.
Their interaction is really adorable! Dooboo is always bullying tongki when tongki was smaller haha.

- 누나헝아동생언니오빠이모땀츈들 굿나잇. #cat #윤두부 #윤통키 #두통남매 #두부왕통키 #왕만두같쟈나 #그래도구엽쟈나 #통키못생김주의 _

A photo posted by 조성아 (@dooboo_cat) on Mar 10, 2015 at 8:18am PDT

and how can I forget our local cats!
PANCAKE, munchkin from SINGAPORE!! *insert SG50 logo* lol
Pancake is like the cutest ever.
it's really a SG cat and it has the shortest legs and cutest paws ever haha

pancake in flattened mode is not so flat after all. #catkote #cats #catlovers #catsconnect #catstagram #catsoninstagram #catsofinstagram #catoftheday #kittygram #kittensoninstagram #kittensofinstagram #sgcats #pets #petlovers #pancake #petstagram #munchyneko #instacats #thedailykitten #instakotik #instagramcats #munchkincats #neko #ねこ #マンチカン #igcats #igpets #igdaily #picoftheday #submitcat

A photo posted by Pancake (@nugget_pancake) on Apr 26, 2015 at 7:58am PDT

Ciao

Mei Lan 

(3) SCRUM + Assignment 1

I really liked this week's class where Chris shared the tips about project management and introduction to agile and scrum. It got me thinking about user stories, something that my teammates also mentioned to me before. So after the talk, I wrote the user stories for our Assignment 1, and got feedback from my team that the expected outcome has be clearer than a generic one. Took in their advice and revised it~ yay

User stories

Oh, and Colin's talk on software development. On the part regarding the role of non-developers and developers. Now I think i have a better idea of how can I assist the group. Not just the marketing, but also to test out the apps. I now try to do abit of designing as well so that I can work on the UI/UX to improve the user's experience.

Update on the Assignment 1:
As of now, I'm fairly positive about it. I like the idea, and things are going well.
I wanted contribute more so I dabbled a little into design and that was pretty fun. (though it took me a while to figure out how to use sketch + get icons/resources+ how to make things nice). I also read up about UI/UX. I crafted out the mockups and flow of the app, from pages to pages, and I think it provides a good visualisation of our app. But while doing it, it sort of confirmed one of my concerns.

I feel that our app is bloating up. (see below.)

say hi to bloated fat cat meow~

Our app tries to do a lot. But what's holding me back is that I see the complete story of the app with these added features which are useful and justified. From a business standpoint, the idea will sell if the story is compelling. Furthermore, i see the developers of my team really want to make it work. But if you ask me, I still feel that such scale seems to be more suitable for the final project. We see how it goes, gonna have a meeting with my team tomorrow. For this project, I would say team's priority should be on the UI/UX than having more features, as reminded by Suyuen on Facebook.

Ciao

Mei Lan

(2) First week of CS3216

Three things happened over at CS3216.

(A) Show and Tell
I have to be honest-- I was MINDBLOWN! I have seen things I've never seen before, okay, especially that rubix cube which can changes shape with every twist. I was truly fascinated.
Anyway I really like seeing how everyone talks about the little thing they want to show and tell. The brimming passion and little nerdjoy spilling over sometimes... makes life seem a lot simpler. And I guess it reveals a bit of everyone's personality and it probably helps people in identifying people who they might be interested to work with for the projects.

(B) Saturday workshop
First class on more technical aspect of things. php and mySQL were fine. I actually appreciate that it was  condensed, since it's not as if php and mySQL can be learnt in 1.5 hours. Git got me a little confused at the start..... but I think I understand how it works. Like a programming dropbox kinda thing to collaborate. (Someone pls correct me if I'm wrong!)

(C) First project meeting
Pretty productive. Did brainstorming and kind of settled on the idea. But still, it's a very raw idea, my team do see some loopholes that is pretty tricky. Well, we will work it out.

Ciao
Mei Lan

(1) What do I hope to learn in CS3216

Well, being a business student with no programming background, it does sound insane to take this class. And honestly, I only heard of the CS3216 saga after I got the class. I applied purely because I want to. In simpler language, I applied this class without knowing that it is highly demanded, highly selective, and extremely difficult. *insert panic emoji*
Alright, here are some things that I hope to take away from CS3216.

(1) Programming skills

Oh well, this goes without saying. I will definitely be able (and need to) pick up some programming skills. Surely a good thing in this technological era. More than happy to learn it.

(2) Discover possibilities out there with programming

Precisely because I do not have programming background, I do not know what's technically possible with programming and what's not. We can always let our imaginations run wild and dream of super cool things that we want to create, but if it's technically impossible at this present day, it's still just an idea.

(3) Learning from others

This module requires a lot of working along with others. And from the pool of students taking this class, I understand that the diversity is quite huge. We will probably view issues from different angle and it's a good thing since we are developing something new. I think such interaction will give everyone valuable hindsight. Also, we probably will learn technical skills from each other as well.

Taking CS3216 means getting out of comfort, exploring something that I think is worth trying while I have the luxury of time as a student. I have always wanted to create something that will provide value for people, making daily lives better. Hope that while learning from all the other student developers and designers and tutors, they will also be able to benefit from my input as a business student about marketing ideas effectively.

Alright, let the (crazy) journey begin heh :P

Ciao

Mei Lan