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High-tech gadgets to make the lives of senior citizens simpler, safer and more fun are in the spotlight at the world’s top showcase for consumer electronics and home appliances.
A jump in demand has prompted organisers of Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA), which opened its annual six-day trade show in the German city of Berlin last Friday, to offer their first guided tours for the over-60 set, pointing out what’s new and hot in the market for oldies.
Mobile phones with bigger buttons, robotic vacuum cleaners that will not give you backache and the latest in hearing aid technology feature on the tour, amid smart TVs, tablets and high-end coffee makers.
“The elderly like to sail, play golf, work in the garden,” said Eveline Pupeter-Fellner, chief executive of Austrian company emporia which specialises in mobile communication for seniors.
She shows off a robust mobile phone for the outdoors which is also waterproof – others in their range have features such as being able to pinpoint the location of the user, a torch or an emergency call button. But a simple alarm clock tends to be the most important feature for older mobile phone users, she said.
“It’s a very important market and it’s growing,” Markus Schmitt-Fumian, senior vice president of business development at Gigaset, said. The company plans shortly to launch an emergency button for hanging around the neck, which dials pre-programmed numbers when pressed and even raises the alarm when its wearer has not moved it for a while.
