Can someone do this -- make a usable smart phone for seniors?
Two phones in the news today attempt to boost smartphone ownership among seniors. Pew’s most recent smartphone penetration into the 65+ market in the US still is below 20%. But note that there are two new entrants that, on the surface, are unlikely to be the drivers of growth in the US. One of them is sold only n Japan and the other crashed during a well-documented test by the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times noted that the Fujitsu Raku-Raku ("easy easy") cell phone has sold 20 million handsets in Japan over the past decade, with 10 million of them still in use. Now in partnership with Orange, the company will introduce the Fujitsu Stylistic S01 into France – its first attempt to export. This Raku-Raku smartphone handset with features that US smartphone manufacturers should adopt – firmer press required to select a dialing digit, brightening the screen for use in sunlight, a button to text GPS coordinates, and (imagine that!) training on how to use the phones. Meanwhile, also in Europe, Doro has sold 4 million of its feature phone handsets and will be rolling out more smartphones (Android-based) in the fall.