Episode 1 of the Emporia Telecom video series

Long time readers will know that one matter close to my heart is the issue of delivering connectivity for the older generations. Today’s Western society is so heavily based on ubiquitous connectivity on multiple levels. Whereas five years ago, voice and text were the key mediums, we’ve seen a huge explosion most notably in the likes of Facebook. The more I watch how my wife interacts with her wide set of friends, I recognise that Facebook is absolutely central to her day-to-day communications experience.

For the older generations, not much has changed though. That’s what concerns me, especially when the older generations are being poorly served by most mobile manufacturers. The solution is most emphatically not to give everyone an iPhone. I’ll come to that issue later.

Two years ago I spoke on this issue at the Senior Mobile Market conference and connected with the Emporia Telecom team there. Emporia are one of the leaders in the provision of communications devices for the senior segment — but my particular interest with them lies in their mobile phone technology.

You may not have come across them but if you’ve popped into a Vodafone (or T-Mobile Germany) store recently, the chances are you’ve seen an Emporia handset out of the corner of your eye.

The Emporia team contacted me recently about some of the new concepts they’re launching at MWC and invited me to find out more. I readily agreed. It’s not surprise that I’m rather frustrated by the industry’s slow response to the issue. So with Emporia’s help and support, I’ve put together a video series focusing on their offering. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be showcasing these episodes on the site and explaining why the senior mobile market is good news for operators, good news for the market in general and why it represents a significant opportunity with a wealthy and loyal customer base.

Thank you to Emporia for helping to cover the cost of production of the series and for flying me to their offices in Vienna to produce some on-site interviews with their executives. Their support has helped me produce the series, plus it’s also helped contribute to keeping the lights on here at Mobile Industry Review.

I’m particularly keen to counter the perception that ‘giving everyone an iPhone’ isn’t necessarily the solution for senior generations. I’ve got some fantastic footage from one of Cambridge University’s top usability experts on precisely this topic. But first, since many readers might not know who Emporia is, and what they do, let’s start with a company background from their CEO, Eveline Pupeter-Fellner. The enthusiasm and sheer passion for what they do definitely comes across in this first episode.