eHarmony-Free to Review Your MatchesOctober 9, 2007 4:00 AM PDT
As boomers go gray, will big money mean better tech?
Last modified: October 12, 2007 9:07 AM PDT
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"This population is looking to maintain their lifestyle, stay very mobile and age in a way of their own choosing. It's not like 20 years ago, when it was off to the home in retirement," he said.
Something like the Wii, with a controller that uses natural motions through the air, seems like an easy intro into video games. The AARP members testing it out were able to start playing immediately after watching the person ahead of them for only a few minutes.
Other companies seem to agree that what we think of as the traditional video game audience has changed.
Nintendo has partnered with building firm Dell Webb to have its systems incorporated into the club houses and lounges in their over-50 communities. It's also partnered with Norwegian Cruise Lines to make Nintendo available on flat-screen TVs in the ship lounges. The partnership has resulted in some of the ships holding Wii tennis, baseball and bowling tournaments.
"In general, it's not just making hardware easier to use. It's what people could use: self-improvement software...If you look at Wii Fit software, no one would have even considered that to be a video game. We've expanded that," said Harrison.
But while baby boomers and even older people may be conversant in computers, they might not necessarily be savvy enough to set up and customize systems themselves.
"You'll probably see organizations coming out with additional services around the products such as installation and support service customization. Because even though this is the first tech-savvy generation, you will still need help in configuring and optimizing. I think we're already seeing that in the general population with Geek Squad and home theater services like Best Buy is selling," said Kelly.
Google seems to already understand that. At the AARP convention, its representatives were not just registering visitors for Gmail accounts, but taking the time to customize them for people.
Galen Panger, a Google representative, helped retiree Carol Weiss of Cambridge, Mass., set up a Gmail account and customize it to include an alumna e-mail account from her alma mater so she could send e-mail from different addresses.
She admitted that she probably could not have figured out how to set up the extra Gmail features by herself, but she had the same e-mail complaints and needs of any young person.
"I had AT&T and Eudora, then the computer died and with it went everything. Over the summer, I was using AT&T at the library, then I got a new computer and Verizon DSL--I graduated from dial-up--but that AT&T lost all my messages," she said.
She also marveled at the same things early adopters did when they first used a Web-based e-mail application. She said she liked that it offered access from any computer, unlimited storage, searching, the ability to send from multiple e-mail addresses and the same e-mail address for life. She was also keen to be using the latest tech, not one geared toward older people specifically.
"He's telling me that it's popular and this is what the young people use, but is that true? I mean, do you use this?" she said.
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We didn't grow up with it because we *invented* it Mr Kelley . . . and have been living with it ever since. That's why we are so "tech-savvy"
eGenerations.com is my venture (also coming soon SeniorsGrandCentral.com) for this demographic, and unlike Eons and it's $32M in venture capital, eGenerations.com has experience a 1100% growth rate, and has Members in 46 different countries.
Over the past year I've become very intimate with this demographic, and discovered the same thing when I pose this question, "What would I be like I was 80..or 50..or 65?". The answer? The same!
Fun would still be..well..fun, and while my life stage may have progressed, I'd still generally be the same person, and desire many of the same things I do today. Like a fine wine, we enhance with age, but our cores (from what I've found) don't change much.
So what's my point? Old dogs, and new dogs still learn new tricks, and are seeking to take advantage of the wealth of possibility offered through technological means.
eGenerations.com - The Cadillac of Online Destinations for Ages 50, and Up
Nathaniel Adam Briggs, CEO/Founder, eGenerations.com