Verizon Wireless shows no shame in revealing that its Coupe by UTStarcom ($39.99 with a two-year contract) is aimed at retirees. And when you open this clamshell, you’ll know why. Besides its large, easy-to-read screen, the device has a large numeric keypad.Though the phone has these “senior” features, it still has the mobile utilities we all demand, including a built-in speakerphone, a tip calculator, and T9 predictive text capability for text messaging.
Old Folk Like the Verizon Wireless Coupe
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I would have liked to have seen the same study done on a person of age who is not familiar with cell phones… my grandfather, for example, has one of the Jitterbug phones (forced upon him after 6 months of argument by his two loving daughters). When taking a long car trip last weekend, my mother-in-law wanted to make sure the phone worked, so she called him, and after three tries with no answer, she called his house phone, and the mystery was revealed… he had no idea how to answer it!
“Daddy, you have to open the phone, and press the green button.”
“The what now?”
“Open the phone, flip it up…”
“Okay…”
“And press the green button.”
“Alright… got it.”
I wonder how many seniors (without extensive cell experience) adjust more easily to a non-flip phone, since it would have a similar format to most digital cordless phones.
Yes, I’d love to see someone unfamiliar with cell phones taking advantage of the texting capability. And then record their face when the T9 tries to guess what they meant and their response to the (probably) incorrect guess.
Novice users and predictive text: help or harm. Sounds like a good research project.
I’ve always wondered why more carriers/companies have not taken advantage of the older segment. I guess the conventional wisdom is that they wouldn’t be highly revenue generating?