Task 5

Marketing & PR
Task 5 – SWOT analysis
Patrick Gouldsbrough

Strength
• The producer of the product has been bold when deciding on the devices streaming service, which is a relatively untested
feature in the market and one that could easily backfire on the producer. Spotify is tested on the initial website and a few
devices but never on a direct stream basis, this is relatively new technology. However, if this is groundbreaking and bold
innovation, the point about a cheap device I made earlier wouldn’t be valid anymore, due to the price been high for this sort of
product, especially if it’s brand new and unseen on the market.
• You can undercut Apple with the use of free songs on Spotify, compared to the pay to download format of iTunes.
• This is a unique device that hasn’t been made before, it could break the market, due to the amount of people who want to try
this product.
• A company link with a business like Spotify is good publicity for both of you because they are getting someone to take their
product to a new medium and target demographic and you have found a company to provide the source of music for the MP3
player.
• The fact that it’s an MP3 player means that it might be relatively cheap to make and therefore cheap to sell. People need a new
and innovative design as an alternative to the iPod. For all the sales you lose to Apple on quality, you make back on price with
this new product on the market.
• The internet feature is a bold and unique design; most MP3 players still on the market only offer songs from the consumers
library, not the internet.
• This company that are challenging Apple for market domination might spur on other companies to make products like this one
and change the whole market and therefore make these products which consumers want, not Apple products and due to the
cheap nature of these products, it might bring a little value into the market, unlike when Apple had domination.

Weakness
• If you need internet to stream the music, what happens when it’s offline, can you download an offline service or will you not be able to
listen to music without the connection.
• People might want a feature where you can stream Spotify but also put in their own music, like a dual-purpose device.
• From an MP3, you can only get audio, from other products that have come before this one, a video display has been offered. I’m not
sure if the consumer will have a high demand for this sort of thing, they might want a more technologically advanced product (video,
Bluetooth, etc.). Using an MP3 would be, in my opinion, going backwards in the market, which consumers don’t want to go for before
they’ve had a taste of the technologically advanced times.
• What has made Apple so successful is that they have improved over time, I think this venture is a bit bold and something a little simpler
should be the focus and as the company grown, the product range will too, it’s maybe a bit too experimental for a first product.
• A company as unknown as one like this will not be received well from consumers. The thing about Apple is that they have been
established as a quality assured and popular brand, where as a new company in the same market who haven’t made any prior products
won’t fair too well. The only consolation in this case is that Spotify are involved in this project but they are more established in a digital
music market, rather than out and out technology.
• For an older demographic – The streaming nature of this product may bring countless problems between older users of this device,
especially if they are unaware or unfamiliar with such products in the past. Even if you would not use or buy such a product, this is a
factor that should be thought of, due to the MP3 players been a perfect piece of technological kit for an older demographic but
because it’s been paired with this streaming element, it might cut the companies target market down considerably.
• For a younger demographic – While streaming is more familiar with a younger demographic, there is another issue for this type of
audience; the actual device and aesthetics of that device. When the MP3 player came on the market, they ere groundbreaking and
technologically advanced but they weren’t aesthetically appealing or effective and the same can still be said. With our increased
consumption of technology has also brought the age of younger people who concentrate on looks rather than features, which may put
this kind of demographic buying a product like this. For this reason, this is discounting most of the young and old demographics from
purchasing this product, which leaves the mid aged and teen audiences as the target demographic for this particular product. While
there is still a relatively good range for the target audience, competitors like Sony and Apple target a mass market and don’t try and cut
down their consumer before even putting the product on the market. This is a massive weakness and could compromise the whole
project if it’s not acted upon and solved.

Opportunities
• If the product is cheap enough then there is the opportunity to make this product into a rival for Apple products, however, if it’s
expensive or as expensive, I can’t see how it can compete.
• The Spotify streaming service leaves a unique opportunity that might be emulated by other companies. This might be more of a
positive for Spotify, who have the music, rather than the company that made the product first.
• The internet streaming version enables the opportunity to make the product better as it goes along, although an offline MP3 player as
the first product might be better because there are few areas you can improve on if not.
• From the first MP3 product, there are opportunities to make further products with more changes on them. There are lots of possible
avenues to explore, such as: a device that allows vide as well, a device that allows the consumer to store and play their own music that
can be easily shifted between devices or maybe a product that is very cheap to make and sell and the profit is made by the mass
market that buy it. Despite Apple been popular in the market, the price of their products puts a lot of consumers off so they are
relatively mass market but due to the big price tag of their products, they don’t have to sell as many to make big profit margins.
• Even though opportunities for the two companies have been covered, there is still the opportunity of a product be resurrected and
have a new purpose. While the mp3 is now seen as a lesser version of an iPod and an old piece of technology to consumers, this
product will give the mp3 player a new lease of life and allow it to be back in the market as a popular product. This might lead to things
like old mp3 players and similar devices been a popular technological regeneration, in the same way as jukeboxes and vinyl players in
the past decade.
• Covering every aspect is a big part of the SWOT analysis and the opportunities for the consumers themselves can give companies an
insight into not just what the consumer wants but how to give the consumer what they want. The opportunity for the consumer exists
at the chance to try and own one of the first internet streaming mp3 players. While before it’s always been stored on the device and
you can have an internet option, this device is solely internet enabled and with our technological age as a consumer, members of the
public will see this as an opportunity to own a groundbreaking device.

Threat
• This product might lead to more success to Spotify than they have already achieved, this might lead to artists demanding more from Spotify to have
them on the streaming version which may mean that Spotify increase the price of use for your product on future ventures or this one.
• Using the internet leaves you open to the site going down and the service and/or the device been useless during this time. Spotify also has a
premium version which requires premium, prevention of hacking must be thought about, due to the consequence of stolen details if a hack does
occur.
• If the product is cheap enough then there is the opportunity to make this product into a rival for Apple products, however, if it’s expensive or as
expensive, I can’t see how it can compete.
• The Apple domination over the past years has left other companies trailing way behind, with the iPhone, iPod and iPad leading the way in the
technology scene. I don’t think the new MP3 streaming device has enough substance to it to challenge Apple and take away some of their market
domination. As a result, this new company may have to have a few more attempts at making a product before challenging the top companies in the
market, by which time they will have used a lot of time, effort and money doing so. This, coupled with the lack of results and good products, can
often leave lower or smaller companies financially unstable or even facing the reality of going bust. This is the biggest threat for any company, not
just a technology one and is universal in any market or competitive environment.
• MP3 players in the past didn’t have the best battery or charge on them, this factor needs addressing and experimenting with and a solution must be
found. Another direct fault with an MP3 is that the storage on them wasn’t as big as the consumers would have liked, therefore, it must be proved
to the consumer that both the capacity and the battery issue is sorted on the MP3 player. These two features don’t have to improved to the
maximum, they just have to be better than the previous versions and not use a lot of the companies budget, which will then translate to mean that
the product will be more expensive for the members of the public. In addition, the company can advertise the product to have a marginally better
battery and capacity, as long as it stays in the ASA guidelines and they are not breaking any legislation set by this regulatory body.
• While Spotify is an ever growing company and provides streamed music for their consumers. The way they make money is to have subscribers who
pay for the service to listen to music without interruption, as well as advertising. However, the point in question in the music industry at the minute
is that artists aren’t getting paid through downloads because of streaming sites such as Spotify, which is leading to many artists pulling their music
from the music site in recent times(Taylor Swift is the most notable). Also, as it’s ever expanding and getting more popular, artists may want more
money from Spotify to keep their catalogue of music on the site which may lead to financial pressure on the company. This threat of course involves
lots of indefinite statements and will come a long time in the future but must be thought of if this project is a long-terms and profit based one,
especially if they want to make follow up products and other product ranges for the streaming MP3 player project.

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