Tech Companies Are Better Off Targeting Geezers Instead Of Youngsters: Gartner

Mangrove Mike via flickrMost technology firms target generations X, Y and younger, but Gartner says it's the older "silver surfers" who have the time and money to spend.

Gartner fellow David Furlonger told a conference on the Gold Coast today that the over-50 demographic was a "more important technology market" than generations X and Y.

The firm highlighted Optus research that found more than 76% of older Australians using Facebook to communicate with friends and family, including grandchildren.

Connectivity enabled them to "reconnect with people from their past whilst also enabling them to find support in times of poor health and chronic disease", Gartner said of the Optus findings.

Furlonger noted that older individuals represented an increasing percentage of the worldwide population, accounting for more than 37% of people in the Asia Pacific region.

He suggested that technology marketers could do a better job at understanding the different sub-segments within the silver surfer market, and tailoring their messaging and products accordingly.

"Silver surfers increasingly want technologies and technology-enabled capabilities that fit their changing individual lifestyles and psychological and physiological needs," Furlonger said.

"Where barriers exists to the adoption of new technologies by silver surfers, be they psychological - such as fear of adoption - or physiological - for example, poor eyesight and awkwardness in handling small devices - it is the responsibility of technologists to overcome these barriers by designing products and services that silver surfers will want and be able to use."

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