As boomers go gray, will big money mean better tech?

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Weiss, like most retirees, wants the latest and greatest technology, not a separate, dumbed-down device geared toward them.

The well-designed Jitterbug cell phone, with its large buttons and limited features, may have appealed to older people in the past--and even young people who wanted a simple phone--but baby boomers likely won't like a product like that, Gribbons said.

They'll be insulted with inch-and-a-half buttons like those offered for the elderly on desktop or mount phones and demand something stylish, he said.

At the same time, they'll need aids as their eyesight, hearing and fine motor skills begin to deteriorate over time.

"In 20 or 30 years, you're still going to be at a computer. It's important that (companies) start thinking about this audience now so you can continue doing what you love when that time comes."

--Brannon Zahand, lead test engineer, Microsoft

Since they don't want to be put into an "old box" and buy products geared specifically for them, companies will begin to incorporate subtle accessibility features into cutting edge products sold to everyone, according to both Gribbons and Kelly.

New clothes washers and dryers are one example. Complaints from seniors about having to stoop low to retrieve dryer items resulted in the new style of machines where the door is placed higher from the floor, something that has appealed to everyone, not just older users, said Gribbons.

More Web sites are offering an option, embedded on their home page, that allows users to increase font size automatically. While its original intent was to aid older readers, companies are finding that lots of people are using it, said Gribbons.

GPS devices for cars have also increased in size, according to Kelly.

That change was due partly because larger screens have gotten cheaper to make, but also because the manufacturers went from targeting young early adopters to mainstream users, which include older people. The result is that GPS devices are now more usable for everyone, not just the older driving population.

At the AARP convention, Microsoft offered demos of Vista, its latest version of Windows, throughout the day, but with a twist.

"I'm here to show you what you can do if you spend a half hour with Windows Vista, training the computer to hear your voice," said the Microsoft spokesman.

Pandora CEO Tim Westergren demonstrated how to use his company's DIY customizable Internet-radio service. While the questions he got from the AARP crowd were quite different from the young people who attend his Pandora "town meetings," he said the excitement level and general response once he explained the service was the same. People loved that they didn't have to buy music and that it had a simple interface, he said.

More ambitious was Microsoft's Xbox 360 booth with funky black leather couches and a giant flat screen set up with the Xbox 360.

While one Microsoft representative agreed that his grandmother would probably not be playing Halo anytime soon, he insisted that the Xbox 360, with its all-in-one capability directed toward multimedia and communication, is easier for a luddite.

"If you gave a new Xbox to your grandmother and grandfather and gave them the manual, they could have it set up in 10 minutes. Why do they need a DVD player and CD player and TiVo when (they've) got everything here?" said Brannon Zahand, lead software development test engineer on Microsoft's Xbox team.

"Half the problem is the intimidation factor...but if I sent my grandmother this (a USB device) with photos and videos, she just plugs in and presses play. With a PC it would be a little trickier," he said.

He also pointed out that the Xbox can be used to play things like UNO, a classic game a grandparent likely already knows how to play. In the new format, it would allow her to connect with a long-distance grandchild.

"The tech is going to support the life themes that are important to baby boomers," like maintaining independence, mobility and staying connected with family and friends from anywhere you are, said Gribbons.

"So any degree that tech can serve those life themes, you have a market product...It's like Apple, where we're talking about not just usability but the larger experience," he said.

While the analysts may know their current aging statistics and trends, they both neglected to mention one very key point .

"You know, you forget. In 20 or 30 years, you're still going to be at a computer. It's important that they start thinking about this audience now so you can continue doing what you love when that time comes," said Microsoft's Zahand.

When today's gamers retire they'll still want to play video games and they'll even have more time to do it. But they might need bigger icons or voice recognition or who-knows-what by then, he said.

[Basticar]

Let me make this perfectly clear

"This is the first tech-savvy retirement generation...Maybe they didn't grow up with it as a teen and in college, but they have been living with it for the past 15 years," said David Kelley.

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"

[Renegade Knight]

Excellent Point.

Never thought about it that way, but you are absolutly right.

[eGenerations]

The Toy that 50+ Built But Didn't Get to Play with...until now

Did you guess what it is? It's the internet, and today the fastest growing demographic online is comprised of ages 50, and up.

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