Case Study: Using Strathpath’s Product-Market Fit Calculator to Show Why iPhones Sell Better Than Hot Cakes
Recently I wrote about Strathpath’s Product-Market Fit Calculator.
The framework is a simple and easy way to help you calculate and improve your product’s chances of being adopted by customers. Or to help you decide which idea to work on prior to the expensive process of product development.
“Great framework. But it would be good to see some case studies.” Was one of the comments that came back. “To help us better understand how it works and see it in practice.”
So I’ve put together a series of case studies to do exactly that.
First up: The iPhone
The iPhone is a very popular product. It sells better than hotcakes. We all intuitively know that it has fantastically great product-market fit. But can we analytically explain why?
With Strathpath’s PMF Calculator we are able to use hard numbers to show why. And demonstrate why the iPhone’s slightly less-than-perfect score means it still needs launch hype and some advertising to sell.
The Key Metrics
Note: The Effort score is an average of 5 sub-metrics. See below for the breakdown.
Breaking Down the Effort Metric
So What Can You Learn?
The iPhone has a very low affordability score because it is quite expensive. Despite this it still has a very high Total Score. This is because it is:
- Aspirational in its brand and image (high End Point score). It gives customers something beyond functionality. It gives them a status symbol.
- Exceptional in its ease of use and design (high Ease of Use score)
- Great and building awareness (high Awareness score) and desirability (high Desirability score) with its marketing
Your Thoughts?
I’ll admit it — I am biassed when it comes to evaluating Apple products. My entire tech setup is Apple products. The only exception is my sports watch is is strictly Garmin (it’s a runner’s thing!).
What do you think of the scores and analysis above? Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know.
Download the Full Case Study
Download the full version of this case study in PDF format from here.
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Strathpath is my personal playground for ideas, technology, solutions and innovation. Visit www.strathpath.com to see other projects I’m working on.
