Why Geriatric Phone Market Is Tepid

For many young people， they’ve probably had the experience of finding there was little choice when it came to buying a geriatric cellular phone for their parents， as most of the products on the market are much of a muchness， of poor quality and unattractive.

By far， many famous mobile phone manufacturers， including Huawei， ZTE， Lenovo， Tianyu， TCL， Changhong， Gionee， and Hisense， had launched geriatric cellular phones in China， such as Huawei G5000， ZTE D&M， Lenovo MA388， Changhong GA918， and so on. Recently， Samsung also introduced Master Dual flip phone into the Chinese market， which was targeted at the geri- atric market.

Lei Jun， billed as “the Steve Jobs of China”， also planned to inject a ton of money into the geriatric phone market. The CEO of Xiaomi said he would joint Shunwei Captial Partners to invest millions in Chinese leading geriatric smart phone maker 21KE.

Currently， most of the geriatric cel-lular phones are featured with a large multi-touch screen， large font color display， simple interface， oversized dial and long standby time. High-volume voice broadcast， alarm clock， almanac， phone camera， Internet surfing and other common functions are also incorporated in the geriatric cellular phones.

Besides， in a bid to cater to seniors’demand， functions of SOS distress， health monitoring， and intelligent positioning are also added into geriatric cellular phones.

Despite of the ever-accelerated updating of geriatric cellular phones， there is an undeniable fact that the market is still tepid. What is the reason？

Lack of Profit Motivation

By far， there has been no geriatric cellular phone brand that caused a great deal of attention. Of course， one of the direct reasons well-known to industry insiders is the profit problem. Currently， most of geriatric cellular phones on the market are priced between 300 yuan and 800 yuan， implying that the profits from such kind of phones are meager.

Besides， the majority of seniors are frugal and unwilling to spend a fortune on a geriatric cellular phone. As a result， the geriatric cellular phone replacement cycle is long. It often takes a few years for seniors to change their outdated phones， much longer than the young who buy one or more brand-new phones a year.

In such a circumstance， phone manufacturers lack the motivation to innovate and most of them avoid producing the geriatric cellular phones in great quantities， so as not to cause the product backlog. However， the main reason behind the tepid market lies on that the geriatric cellular phone manufacturers have neither taken serious steps to conduct the market research， nor dived into the geriatric cellular phone market to discover the potential demand of seniors and create a good brand by far.

Lack of Market Understanding

Judging from the geriatric cellular phones on the market at present， the geriatric cellular phone manufacturers just have a subjective understanding of seniors’ demand.

Many manufacturers take it for granted that the geriatric cellular phones should be simple and practical and there is no need to add entertainment function into their phones. As a result， most of the geriatric cellular phones on the market are much of a muchness with same characteristics of simple interface， big fonts and icons， as well as loud voice.

In 2014， United Statesbased market research firm Nielsen reported that in the third quarter， American seniors aged at 55 years and above spent 55% more time on watching video from their smart phones and PC.

The above-mentioned data show that no matter at home and abroad， seniors are also attracted by the mobile Internet world. In China， a growing number of phone users aged below 65 years begin using Wechat， reflecting that they also want to follow the trend.

Lack of Flagship products

On the other side， Chinese manufacturers do not paid too much attention to the geriatric phone market. The geriatric phones market is just considered as a very small niche market by the mainstream manufacturers， including Huawei， ZTE and Xiaomi.

Most of mainstream manufacturers concentrate on the interaction with the young， believing it the most costeffective way to attract consumers. Their Internet marketing strategy is also targeted at the young consumers.

Consequently， the geriatric market is collectively ignored by Android phone manufacturers. Although the budget smart phones like Red Mi Note are defined as geriatric phones， the geri- atric phone brand awareness is still poor and there is no flagship product that can be highly recognized by the mass. The popularity and appeal of the smart mobile phones are growing among seniors. However， seeing from the current market， those smart phones designed for the seniors are low-priced and unattractive with outdated style， falling behind the trend of the industry. Besides， most of the geriatric phones are made by less-known manufacturers. In addition to the lack of brand recognition， manufacturers also find it hard to accurately gasp the real demand of the elderly， due to the lack of comprehensive geriatric market research.

As mentioned above， the frequency of phone replacement among the elderly can not stimulate the profit-seeking manufacturers to innovate.

Competitions from Wearable Devices

In recent years， the geriatric phone market was hit by the growing popularity of wearable intelligent devices and creative intelligent hardware， which also have the same functions of health monitoring and GPS positioning as geriatric phones.

Some experts say that competition from the wearable intelligent devices and intelligent hardware may drive the poor-quality geriatric phones out of the market.

In a word， the current geriatric phone market environment is impetuous， as few manufacturers are willing to put much effort into expanding the market. Geriatric phone manufacturers must change their fixed mindsets about seniors.

Most of the elderly are unwilling to yield to age and they do not like to be classified as a group that is too old to take a role in the mobile Internet boom. Therefore， manufacturers should accurately grasp their cell phone habits and have a deep understanding of their demand.

Besides， geriatric phone manufacturers also need to build brand awareness， as seniors also prefer to flaunt their iPhones received as gifts from their children rather than the low-price and poor-quality geriatric cellular phones.

If manufacturers still hold the inappropriate idea that seniors lack the ability to accept new things and lack the purchasing power eyes， and design geriatric phones with the shallow understanding， the geriatric phone market will not see a boom forever.