iPhone for Boomers & Seniors
Posted by Sandy Berger on July 21st, 2008
The more I use my new iPhone, the more impressed I am with its hardware and software design and its focus on ease of use. I have previously used more than ten cell phones from various manufacturers including Motorola, Samsung, Blackberry, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson. They all had small buttons and complex menu systems. While the young folks are happy to put up with these devices, the older generations find them extremely frustrating. We should not have to ask our children or grandchildren to program our cell phones.
iPhone Home Screen
With the iPhone, we won’t have to ask for help. The iPhone is very different. There is only one button on the face of the iPhone….the Home button. One press of that button brings up the icons needed to perform various tasks. The icons are all clear and bright and visually indicative of their use.
The touch screen is a joy to use. Just tap to make your choice. Move your finger across the screen to the left or right or up or down to see more on the screen when in an email or web page. Pinch two fingers together on the screen to make the information on the screen smaller. Push two fingers apart on the screen to make the information larger. For the most part, the choices are shown clearly on the screen. So finding everything is much easier than having it in layers of menus.
The iPhone also has the best audio clarity of any cell phone I’ve ever used…. a boon for those of us who have ruined our ears listening to loud music.
The recent price reduction of the iPhone makes it more accessible and more appealing to everyone. The only problem is the $30 monthly data access fee. Boomers and seniors who have worked for thirty years or more have a keen eye for the value of the dollar. No matter what our financial situation is, most of us hate to add any recurring fee to our cost of living.
I personally hesitated in getting an iPhone just because of that monthly fee. I didn’t want to add to my monthly bills. Although I had reviewed Blackberries and other phones that had Internet and email, I didn’t really feel that I needed online access my phone.
So far, however, I can honestly say that I think the iPhone is worth the fee. The iPhone makes email and Internet access so easy that it is truly valuable. In fact, having an iPhone is like having a computer in your hand…only it is easier to use than a computer. For many, the iPhone will be the only piece of equipment needed for access while traveling. They won’t have to drag a laptop along to access email and the Internet.
While the younger generation is flocking to the iPhone for its “cool” gadget value, many older folks are already finding it as a solution to the complexity problems caused by the current flock of cell phones by other manufacturers. I think that as more and more boomers and seniors realize the value and ease-of-use of the iPhone, they will also flock to it. At some point, many, like me, will be willing to pay the monthly fee for data access on the iPhone because, like the monthly fee for cell service and the fee to an ISP for Internet access, it will add real value to their lives. At that point the iPhone will become the cell phone of choice for boomers and beyond. And that may be sooner rather than later.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
[...] financeblogger wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptBoomers and seniors who have worked for thirty years or more, have a keen eye for the value of the dollar. No matter what our financial situation is, most of us hate to add any reoccurring fee to our cost of living. … [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe recent price reduction of the iPhone makes it more accessible and more appealing to everyone. The only problem is the $30 monthly data access fee. Boomers and seniors who have worked for thirty years or more, have a keen eye for the … [...]
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Are there any costs in addition to the monthly fee of $30 per month? Someone told me that there are additional monthly fees. Ed Rydman
August 5th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Hey Ed!
You pay for your cell phone service and then add $30 a month for the data plan for the iPhone. After that there are no “hidden” charges.
The only charge that you may encounter is for texting. The $30 a month plan does not include text messages. You have to add that to your monthly plan if you plan to do texting. If you don’t have a text plan, you can still use your iPhone to send and receive text messages, but you will pay AT&T a fee for each message. I don’t know exactly what that is, but it is closer to pennies per message rather than dollars.
I personally don’t use my phone for texting. i just tell my friends to call or email rather than to text.
November 24th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Don’t be too sure about seniors loving the iphone. If they want a reliable phone – forget it. If they want to be able to hear easily – forget it. If they want to be frustrated by not being able to use a cursor to go back or forward or up or down – forget it, you’ll have to use a fat finger to get close.
Why none of these things? The iphone places fashion far far above function. Boomers want, at minimum, a phone that works – and the iphone is not that because too much of it is software.
Hence, when it crashes, (OPTION 1) unless you can jump through technical hoops (reboot itunes, upgrade and reboot, uninstall and reboot, remove and reinstall your USB drivers – the ones that every other device on your PC depends on! – and after each of these steps, MAYBE it will work again).
(OPTION 2) take it back to the apple store where you bought it, and if you bought it at a store 100 miles away – “YOU IDIOT”. What you didn’t make an “appointment”? “Do you have any idea how busy we are in here? Do you know how many people love our products? Do you know how many people are using their iPhones without the slightest problems?” (OPTION 3) RETURN IT – if you are lucky enough to do so within 10 days (technically 30 days, but after 10 days, it gets real hairy).
(OPTION 4) Buy two separate phones and pay for two lines! Buy one that will always work as a phone, and keep the iphone for fun stuff.
But we worked with software for 40 years. Get lost sucker. ‘Cause you are lost!
Tom
November 28th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Tom,
I am sorry that you have had a bad time with your iPhone. I am very happy with mine and have not had any problem with it. There is a lot of software in the iPhone and that is part of what makes it so much fun…the Apps and the ability to use it as an iPod. Again, I have installed many apps and use the iPod functionality regularly and everything works just fine.
I do not have an Apple store nearby. I bought my iPhone from the local AT&T. I have not had to take it back there, but I know of a few others who have gotten iPhone questions answered at this AT&T. Most of the people who work there are using iPhones, so they are pretty knowledgeable.
May 6th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
[...] need for any of the above. For you iPhone addicts (I can’t comment on that) here’s a review of the iPhone for boomers and seniors. But back to the iPhone: you can download music, TV shows, podcasts of nearly anything, and all [...]
August 30th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I don’t think the Iphone is tailor made for Boomers. It violates the K.I.S.S. principal and can difficult to hear if you don’t put it in just the right spot on your ear. If you’re a gadget person, they’re wonderful to have to play with. I have seen repeated the notion that Boomers are reluctant to pay $30 per month data fees- I think most people would avoid it unless they see a real benefit to the service.
August 31st, 2009 at 10:49 am
Art,
You are right that you need to have the iPhone positioned correctly on your ear to hear it, but many, many cell phones are the same way. You are also right that the $30 a month data fee is a big chunk unless you really need to get email and such on your phone.
However, I disagree with you that the iPhone violates the KISS principal. They have done away with all the nested menus and the iPhone is much easier to use than many other cell phone.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Cool site, love the info.
November 6th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
All are amazing, i am very confuse which one to select but i have 2 PCs and 1 laptop at my home so i will install 5 to each.Thanks for sharing nice list.