For the last 18 years I’ve worked in the mobile industry. The constant trend is for more features and smaller devices. This is diametrically opposed to the trend for people living longer – we all become less dexterous, our eyesight starts to fail. Indeed eyesight is most acute at the age of twelve and declines rapidly at around the age of 40.

Research by Cambridge University for Vodafone estimates that almost 10 percent of the population is excluded from using mobile phones by the kind of devices that are made. Many can’t even turn them on. What’s more, about 60 percent of the population struggles with their phones.

You would have thought that with such pent-up demand there would be a good range of phones and services for this specific market. Unfortunately the ‘Senior Market’ is extremely unfashionable. I’ve worked in product planning within two of the top five handset manufacturers and failed to get the budget to build suitable phones. Design decisions that focus on ‘basics’ mean battery life and radio performance. Even these don’t matter if the consumer can’t see the phone or switch it on.

And if a phone is ugly, if it screams “phone for old people,” they won’t even carry it.

If we look at the fashions in phones over the last ten years they have been clam shells, pink phones, sliders, touch and now open source. None of them, except arguably the first one, do anything to make lives better for seniors.

There are some minor vendor players targeting this sector but consumers need the attention of the whole chain of manufacturers, networks, distributors and retailers. 

Just before I joined the GSMA I organised a conference on the senior mobile market. It brought together the industry and was such an uplifting experience I’ve been allowed to carry it on outside of my day job. Understanding that technology is not just for the 18-25 year olds with iPhones and social networking. The appropriate technology can empower older people to lead more independent lives. Indeed, given the aging population, if we don’t use technology to do this the social infrastructure will fail to cope. 

Since the last conference we’ve seen some real progress. Orange is selling Doro phones in France and now the UK, Consumer Cellular has been very successful in the US, and T-Mobile has taken Emporia phones to become some of the most successful products, across all categories, in Austria. Telstra has a connected seniors program in Australia using 3G handsets.

The progress on product design has been a little slower. The second conference is in a couple of weeks’ time and will look at both the success stories and how to address the product issues. But most of all it will look at how to drive inclusion: an understanding that seniors are cool – with a keynote talk on technology – and that you don’t have to slow down when you reach 80 by Sir Stirling Moss.

 

Simon Rockman is head of the GSMA Mobile Money Exchange, the website for all aspects of mobile money.

The editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members