Strategy question

If you were the PM for the Windows phone, how would you make it successful?

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Tests strategic reasoning about a real historical platform failure, requiring the candidate to diagnose the actual root cause before proposing a fix.

Diagnose the real root cause: Windows Phone's core problem was the app-gap, developers didn't build apps for a platform with a small user base, and the small user base persisted because key apps were missing.
Recognize this as a two-sided platform chicken-and-egg problem, not primarily a hardware or design issue, since Windows Phone's design was often well-reviewed.
Propose breaking the cycle from the developer side: aggressive developer incentives and simplified cross-platform porting tools to lower the cost of building for Windows Phone.
Propose a parallel consumer-side wedge: deep integration with Microsoft's existing enterprise and Office ecosystem as a differentiated reason to choose the platform despite fewer consumer apps.
Define success as flagship app parity with iOS and Android within a set timeframe, and market share growth specifically among enterprise and Office-using customers.

Correctly diagnoses the real historical cause, the developer chicken-and-egg app gap, rather than blaming hardware or marketing.
Proposes breaking the cycle from both sides, developer incentives and a genuine enterprise differentiation angle, not just marketing spend.
Grounds the strategy in Microsoft's actual real asset, the Office and enterprise ecosystem, as the wedge that's uniquely available to it.

Blaming only hardware or marketing while missing the real underlying developer app-gap problem.
Proposing a generic more-marketing-spend fix that doesn't address the two-sided platform dynamic.

How would you convince a major app developer like Instagram to prioritize building for this platform?
At what point would you recommend Microsoft exit the phone hardware business entirely?