Product Sense: A Non-Smartphone Device Seniors Use to Stay in Touch, Aiming for 80% Share
Company: Shipyaari
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
Design a new communication device for older people. It must be something other than a smartphone, and the aim is for it to win 80% of its target market. Explain who it is for, what it does and how it could reach that share.
```hint Let the 80% shape the design
A share that high leaves no room for a niche: the device has to suit people with very different abilities, budgets and comfort with technology. Think about who actually buys it and through which channels most households could be reached.
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### Clarifying Questions
- Is the 80% measured among all older adults or only among those who do not use smartphones, and in which country or region?
- Who is the buyer: the older person, adult children buying for a parent, or an organization such as a phone carrier, insurer or care provider?
- What age band does "elderly" mean here, and should the design cover people with significant hearing, vision, dexterity or memory loss?
- Should the device replace a phone entirely, or work alongside a landline or basic mobile phone the person already has?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A definition of the market and the 80% target, and what that share implies for price, simplicity and distribution
- Segmentation of older adults by ability, living situation and comfort with technology, plus families and caregivers as buyers
- Communication needs and pain points mapped to a focused feature set and a form factor that is clearly not a smartphone
- A go-to-market and pricing plan that could plausibly reach most of the market, with metrics for adoption and real use
- Risks such as stigma, setup and support, cost, privacy of family monitoring and the shutdown of older mobile networks
### Follow-up Questions
- Which existing product would be your biggest competitor for this share, and why would its users switch?
- How would you support users who cannot set the device up themselves or who run into problems later?
- How would the design change for rural areas with weak mobile coverage?
Overview: A product design prompt asking for a communication device for elderly people that is not a smartphone and aims to win 80% of its market. It tests how the candidate defines that market, designs for a wide range of abilities, separates buyers from users, and plans the distribution such a share would require.