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You are the PM for iPhone iOS. Design the next generation iOS with two goals in mind: increasing the number of upgrades to this iOS on existing iPhones & converting Android users to iPhone.

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Acknowledge that since I am not a Product Manager for iOS, I may not have the best of the understanding of the product, and I will use my best judgement, and also seek your help to correct me where I may be misunderstanding the product.

Clarificaition: 

- scope is limited to iOS update (software) only or is there some sort of user facing hardware update as well

- is it okay to assume that this upgrade isn't driven by any strong backlash and/or user-reported issues/needs

 

Context Setting: 

iPhones are by far considered to be superior mobile phones than Android devices in terms of User experience and hardware quality. However, there are strong user groups that think iPhone is not worth the price tag and that Android has better features for lesser price. 

Inspite of this, there is a strong followership of iPhones and these user groups love the product so much that they will not leave the iPhone for the love of the phone or because they are tied so deep in the Apple product ecosystem

 

Goal: 

  1. Increase the number of upgrades to this iOS on existing iPhones 
  2. Convert Android users to iPhone
 
In order to achieve these goals, lets start wth the user segments and list of their pain points.
User segments: 
  1. Apple users
    1. Apple power users
    2. light users
    3. on-the-fence users
  2. Androind users
    1. Power users
    2. light users
    3. on-the-fence users
 
Prioritzation: 
Goal 1: prioritize 'Light apple users' segment 
Goal 2: prioritize 'on-the-fence' Android users - (low hanging fruits)
 
User pain points: 
Light apple users
1. not as much happy with the hardare (battery life)
2. privacy concerns Eg: Siri 
3. worried about potential fraud from spam calls/messages
4. feel Iphone could do better by improving native apps (such as Camera, iMessages, Settings customizations
 
On-the-fence android users
1. not as much happy with the quality of hardare (cheap feel)
2. bothered with Ads on android phones
3. worried about potential fraud from spam calls/messages
 
General pain points: 
- more native app capabilities such as default camera filters etc 
 
Post COVID-19, there have been a lot of rise in 2 things in paticular
- amount on time spent on phones
- online frauds especialy via the mobile phones. 
 
Potetial feature list (in the order of priority):
1. Ability to mark messages/calls as spam. This helps iOS to build an intelligence on potential spam sources and alert other users who might recieve calls from those numbers 
2. power charging mode to enable faster charging
3. make the iOS more efficient to improve battery life 
4. more customizations at the hand of the users (such as fancy filters in camera app etc)
 
FeaturesUser impact (1-10)
1- highest
10 loweest)		Complexity (1-10
1- highest
10 loweest)		Priority Score 
Mark and avoid spam8756
Improve Battery life9218
Power charging mode9432
Powerful Native apps (Eg: Camera filter)5525

 

Solutions: 
iOS MVP:
Mark and avoid SPAM
Power charging mode
Camera filters
 
 
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I Cheated

I’m not an Apple / iOS user do I cheated.  The current upgrade rate for iOS 14 is between 70 and 80% and the iOS 14 only runs on devices from 2015 or newer.  In my opinion increasing the upgrade rate for iOS requires the user to upgrade their old phone.  To get the user to upgrade their phone either the functionality has to be so great that they can’t resist, or the price point / promotion has to make it an easy choice.  Switching seems to be the same. 

 

Areas you did well

1.       Great use of framework to move though a question subject you acknowledge you are not an expert in. 

2.       You provide context to the problem  

3.       You set a goal – although these are just the question rephrased.  You could have a goal like generate awareness of the new features to drive upgrades and switching, or create features that generate referral from existing users. 

4.       You identify the persona

5.       You identify the pain points

6.       You generate a list of solutions

7.       You provide criteria for picking a solution

 

 

Areas of improvement

1.        Clarifying questions – in a real interview especially an area where you lack expertise, I would ask a lot more clarifying questions. 

a.       What % of users typically upgrade iOS?

b.       What is the obstacle for them to upgrade?

c.       If the current rates is 70 to 80% what does success look like? 

d.       Same types of questions on getting users to switch from Android

2.       Provide some criteria that justify your persona picks - why focus on light apple users and on the fence Android users?

3.       Bonus points for including metrics and listing limitations

 

Summary a good answer that hits on most of the points of a product improvement question.  My take – if you had gotten that the upgrade rate for iOS is already 70 – 80% and that many of the outstanding upgrades are related to getting a new phone then the question could be rewritten into “What Killer feature will you develop for the next version of iOS that will get users on old phones to upgrade and android users to switch?”  Then you could have done a user journey on how users use their phones and identified pain points and come up with moon shot solutions.  I think getting to the current upgrade rate and reasons for not upgrading were part of the in interview answer that they were looking for. 

 

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