Older adults age at different rates and need different technology at various stages.
2025 scheduling underway.
This is a crazy idea for the gift-giving season, I know. But I just got off the phone with Landel -- the maker of Mailbug, a single-purpose e-mail appliance for the PC-less (or PC-useless) home. Wouldn't it just be a crazy idea this holiday season if baby boomers who can afford to do it gave a suite of communication products to their PC-less parents and in-laws?
Let me add it up for you: $359.97 for hardware. $22.45 per month, plus whatever the lowest ISP charge imaginable is in their service area, let's say $14/month for basic DSL. So let's assume $450/year service charges and $359.97 one time for the hardware. Even if we add $179.99 for another D-Link in the future for adult child # 2. We still haven't matched the price of a laptop and printer combination. So for that price, grandparents get to see pictures of their family pop out on a printer, send and receive e-mail messages and watch the grandchildren giggle during a phone call.
It's a little crazy and maybe unjustifiable (or just plain wrong) math. Lots of gear to avoid a PC. But crazier things have happened.