November 25, 2003
Cell Phone Companies Set Their Sights on Senior Citizens
Tokyo's teens are often given credit for creating Japan's multibillion dollar mobile content market. But sales in this sector are starting to saturate, leaving many companies looking for new markets. The unlikely new niche many have decided to try to go after is the antithesis of today's mobile user: Old People. The Japan Media Review via Mobile Media Japan.
"Targeting the over-40 crowd makes a certain amount of sense: Older people have more money than young people and so have more to spend on wireless products. According to a recent story from Bloomberg News , "Japan's 23 million retired people spend 25 trillion yen, $214 billion, a year."
The dwindling birth rate means about half of the adults here are 50 or older -- so the untapped market is vast.
Until now, most of the content on the wireless Web has been youth- and entertainment-oriented but Japan's mobile content vendors decided to try marketing "mature" content to see if they can get older people to pick up the mobile habit, by offering health, financial and educational services through mobile phones."
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