SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus are competitively releasing customized services to users over 50 as an increasing number of older users are using smartphone functions as much as the younger generations do, company officials said Friday.
In the past, older customers only sent text messages and made phone calls with their mobile phones, but smartphones have become a daily necessity for them. Now, many senior citizens talk to their friends and acquaintances through mobile messenger app KakaoTalk and watch video clips on YouTube, officials said.
The trend is shown by surveys as well.
According to a survey conducted by the Korea Information Society Development Institute, the smartphone penetration rate for people in their 60s was 19 percent in 2013, but the figure increased sharply to 80.3 percent last year.
Another survey conducted by industry tracker WiseApp showed that people over 50 used YouTube for 1,045 minutes in April on average. The amount of time was longer than 988 minutes for those in their 30s and 781 minutes for those in their 40s.
In a bid to better reach out to senior users, LG Uplus released "U+ Bravo Life Phone," a smartphone designed exclusively for the older generation, and three types of fee systems for them, Thursday.
The telecom company utilized Samsung Galaxy J4 Plus to release the new smartphone services, offering various apps, which provide senior users with useful information about health, hobbies, travel and life after retirement.
The smartphone is also equipped with a 6-inch large display to offer a more convenient user interface.
The new fee systems released with the new smartphone significantly increased benefits in data usage.
"We designed optimized services for older users as their content and data usage rates have increased consistently," said Park Jong-wook, a vice president in charge of the mobile service division at LG Uplus. "We will continue to diversify services for various age groups to give customers choice and flexibility."
SK Telecom has operated a program offering education on how to better utilize smartphones since late last year.
The nation's largest mobile carrier said 76 percent of participants in the program are over 60 years old, noting that it provides education ranging from basic smartphone functions such as assigning ringtones and taking photos to other various features such as utilizing KakaoTalk, Instagram and YouTube.
Seven senior citizens who went through the program with excellent results have been placed at SK Telecom's T World stores as smartphone "lecturers" for older users, the company said.
"We will continue to work to resolve the digital isolation of senior citizens," said Yoo Young-sang, head of SK Telecom's mobile network operator business.
KT has been targeting elderly users by doubling content exclusively for them on its internet protocol television (IPTV) services.
Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2019/08/133_274048.html