I have come across this company before having a working interest in the mobile industry, but JitterBug has designed simple mobile solutions and a call service for the older generation - by making the phones simple and easy to use they could be easily operated by an older and maybe vulnerable person.

Founded by Arlene Harris, a telecoms veteran, and her husband Martin Cooper, who helped develop the first portable cell phone for Motorola in 1973, GreatCall is a new wireless company that will target baby boomers and their parents. While the network isn’t yet operational, GreatCall’s Jitterbug, a combination of handset and service provider, will soon start shipping phones. Manufactured by Samsung, the phones have big buttons, a bright screen, easy to read text, and loud and clear sound. One version (Jitterbug OneTouch) is simplified even further, its number keys replaced by three emergency buttons: one for 911, a second for Jitterbug’s operator, and a third for a personalized direct dial number.

Operators are an important element of Jitterbug’s services. Besides looking up numbers or placing calls for customers, operators can program a phone’s contact list over the network. Each customer is also provided with an individual webpage that can be used to edit the phone list, or set service options, which means that children or grandchildren can help their less technically adept relatives configure their phones. Jitterbug’s pricing has yet to be set, but plans will be available from USD 10 per month.

Last year, Vodafone launched a somewhat similar service in Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Vodafone Simply combines no-frills phones with uncomplicated price plans. Though certainly easier to use than most phones, Vodafone’s attempt can’t rival Jitterbug’s extra services and meticulous design.

As the Grey Pound market becomes bigger and bigger and we become more technical what else could be adapted to become attractive to the older generation?

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