IBM, universities target easy-to-use cellphones
IBM has started a two-year research program that aims to make cellphones easier to use for groups including the elderly and the illiterate.
As growth in developed markets such as Europe, Japan and United States has stalled, the wireless industry is looking especially toward the elderly who have so far thought they could do without a cellphone, or who can't use the one they have.
IBM said on Wednesday software developed in the program, which also involves the National Institute of Design of India and Tokyo University, will be made available on an open source basis, and other materials developed will also be made publicly available for governments and businesses.
Telecom industry watchers said the IBM program addressed a genuine need.
"As the population in Europe and North America ages, the need for specialized mobile devices will become acute," said Ben Wood, research director at British consultancy CCS Insight.
"Phone makers will have to adapt if they want to appeal to a generation that has grown up with mobile devices, but can't use them in the ways they used to," he said.
Major phone vendors such as Nokia and Samsung Electronics have produced phones with big buttons and simple designs, but have shied away from marketing them specifically to the elderly.
This has opened the market for smaller companies like family-owned Emporia and Sweden's Doro, whose recent study showed most over 65 year-olds in developed markets already own a cellphone.
Austrian Emporia focused solely on phones for the elderly a few years ago after the retired mother of Chief Executive Albert Fellner regularly asked for help with using her phone.
"She always drove me crazy with her mobile phone. Every two weeks I had to explain to her how to use it. I gave up. I said I will make you a phone you know how to use," Fellner said.
IBM Research Fellow Chieko Asakawa, in charge of the research programme, has a similar personal experience. She is blind and her first cellphone in 1990s was used mostly for voice communication as opposed to text or other uses.
"There was no accessible phone. I just used it to dial and call," she said.
Related information:
International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), abbreviated IBM, is a multinational computer, technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, North Castle, New York, United States. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software (with a focus on the latter), and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.[1] It has been nicknamed "Big Blue" for its official corporate color.[citation needed]
IBM has been well known through most of its recent history as the world's largest computer company and systems integrator.[2] With over 407,000 employees worldwide, IBM is second largest (by market capitalisation)[3] and the second most profitable[4] information technology and services employer in the world according to the Forbes 2000 list with sales of greater than 100 billion US dollars. IBM holds more patents than any other U.S. based technology company and has eight research laboratories worldwide.[5] The company has scientists, engineers, consultants, and sales professionals in over 200 countries.[6] IBM employees have earned five Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, nine National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science.[7] As a chip maker, IBM has been among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders in past years.
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