Leading charity Age UK has launched a basic handset targeted at older users (see image), the latest organisation to target what has become an increasingly popular demographic for the mobile industry.

The new phone, which is the size of a credit card and lightweight, enables users to call friends and family just by pressing a single button or a photo, in a process that is designed to be simpler than conventional handsets and hence more attractive to older users.

Other companies in the mobile industry who have targeted a similar demographic include specialist vendor Doro and Japan’s Docomo but Age UK is different because it is coming from outside the industry.

Instead the charity is working with Cycell, a UK MVNO which specialises in personalising handsets and services for specific customers. The new phone is called Age UK My Phone.

The company also devised the Onefone concept used by Age UK on its phone. Cycell describers it as being “a low cost cloud phone”. Part of its technology enables a subscriber to connect directly with a small group of friends and family by pressing a name or photo of the person they want to speak to.

The charity says its research shows over two-thirds (68 percent) of those aged 65 years-plus use a mobile phone but that figure drops to just over half (52 percent) among those aged 75 years-plus, so proving the need for some original thinking in this area.