It's 2021 and baby boomers turn 75. It took the combination of 71 million boomers, a pandemic emergency, and the sheer size of the aging population to transform a 2009 market niche into this 2021 market category worthy of investment-- less about products specifically designed for older adults as it is about the marketing of many existing offerings as useful to them. But this is January, 2021, in the time of Covid-19 and the time of the all digital Consumer Electronics Show -- this time with at least 70,000 online attendees from around the world and the tech industry -- and so new companies are surfacing with technologies that will generate interest and even excitement during 2021. The entrants that can help older adults fit into categories like:
RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 6, 2021 — North Carolina Assisted Living Association (NCALA), a North Carolina non-profit trade association supporting quality assisted living, and K4Connect, a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, today announced a partnership to provide technology relief to communities across the state.
Once upon a time, a new technology user interface was just annoying. It’s almost quaint to look back at what we complained about – though some of the famous user interface disasters are well-described in a Scientific American article – Windows 8, BMW iDrive, TV remotes. At some point, the user gets mad. The BMW iDrive example prompted some drivers to turn around and bring the car back to the showroom. Consider the whining from this site in 2012 about smartphones and again in 2013. But a poor UI doesn’t always guarantee poor sales. It’s quaint to read the complaint about the Apple Watch interface, which is quite annoying and 100% dependent on a smartphone app. But it may turn out to be Apple’s most popular product (30 million sold in 2019) and enjoys great popularity in 2020. Furthermore, its fall detection validated the market transition of caregiving smart watches replacing PERS pendants.
A year that saw little travel but it was a good time to write. Most would agree that this year was not what we expected. Instead of continuing with business and event travel into March, HIMSS was canceled at the last minute and converted to a virtual event. And so it went, for Argentum events and many other summits. And so it remains a virtual world. So 2020 was a year that produced 5 white papers and three long research reports emerge – normally not feasible with so much here-and-there travel. By comparison, in 2019 one report, the 2019 Market Overview, was published, along with 2 long and 4 short white papers, listed under Research. Here are the reports – looking forward to 2021!
The market increasingly is less about products specifically designed for older adults as it is about the marketing of many consumer offerings that could be useful to them. This includes smartphones, tablets, smart home technology, Voice First hardware and virtual assistants, and in-home sensors. Each of those devices is enabled for older adults by either more targeted marketing and packaging, enabling software, or bundling into solutions for in-home caregiving and/or healthcare.
October 2020 -- when the fall travel season never started. And the unthinkable has become normal. These days it seems like businesses only congregate in Zoom-like rooms. But despite that, product announcements and innovations appear despite the missing in-person fanfare. The 30+ research report interviews are complete and the writing begun for "The Future of Remote Care Technology and Older Adults." The goal -- publish in early December in conjunction with the What's Next Longevity Innovation Summit -- normally held in Washington, this year all online. Here are four blog posts from October, including the key themes from the research report:
It's 2021 and baby boomers turn 75. It took the combination of 71 million boomers, a pandemic emergency, and the sheer size of the aging population to transform a 2009 market niche into this 2021 market category worthy of investment-- less about products specifically designed for older adults as it is about the marketing of many existing offerings as useful to them. But this is January, 2021, in the time of Covid-19 and the time of the all digital 
Once upon a time, a new technology user interface was just annoying. It’s almost quaint to look back at what we complained about – though some of the famous user interface disasters are well-described in a Scientific American article – 
A year that saw little travel but it was a good time to write. Most would agree that this year was not what we expected. Instead of continuing with business and event travel into March, HIMSS was canceled at the last minute and 
October 2020 -- when the fall travel season never started. And the unthinkable has become normal. These days it seems like businesses only congregate in Zoom-like rooms. But despite that, product announcements and innovations appear despite the missing in-person fanfare. The 30+ research report interviews are complete and the writing begun for "The Future of Remote Care Technology and Older Adults." The goal -- publish in early December in conjunction with the 