Comparing LinkedIn App Quality and Member Value on iOS Versus Android

LinkedIn's mobile app ships on both iOS and Android, and the two versions share the same look and feel. As a product manager, how would you measure whether LinkedIn is a better product on one of these platforms than on the other? Explain what "better" should mean here, which metrics you would compare across the two apps, and how you would make sure that a difference you find is caused by the app rather than by the people who use each platform. ```hint Who is holding each phone iPhone owners and Android owners are not the same people: they differ in country, device price, profession and how they joined LinkedIn. Before reading any gap as a product difference, ask what else differs between the two groups and how you could hold it constant. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does "better" mean a better experience for members, better results for LinkedIn's business, or both? Which decision will the answer inform, for example where to invest engineering time? - Apart from the shared visual design, do both apps have the same features, experiments and release timing, or does one platform get changes first? - Is the comparison global or for one market, given that the split between iOS and Android varies widely by country? - Phones only, or tablets as well? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A definition of "better" broken into member outcomes, app quality and business outcomes, with a small set of comparable per-member metrics for each - Recognition that the two user populations differ, and a method to separate platform effects from population effects (matched segments, device switchers, within-person comparisons) - A step-by-step comparison of the same flows on both apps to locate where any gap appears - Platform-specific causes behind a real gap, such as performance on low-end devices, OS permission prompts or system integrations - How the findings turn into action and how a fix would be validated ### Follow-up Questions - Android members show lower engagement overall, but the gap disappears once you compare within the same country and device price tier. What do you conclude, and what would you still investigate? - You cannot randomly assign members to a platform. Which natural experiments could you use instead, and what are their weaknesses? - Job-application completion is noticeably lower on one platform while every other flow matches. How would you find the cause?