The future may lie in devices that care for an aging population, used to living on their own and with money to spend.
Often the needs of an older population are at odds with the design of new gadgets.
According to usability experts, the people creating the devices do not consider how older people will react.
“Buttons are too close together or labels are hard to read,” explained Rich Buttiglieri, a usability consultant at the Design and Usability Center, Bentley College, Massachusetts.
“One of the major challenges with designers is to get them to take into account the abilities of your end user.