MyFon: Product Brief

The average life expectancy of our senior citizen population is increasing.  Studies show that the elderly who live at home generally fare better than those that stay at senior care centers.  Home stay is also less expensive to the society and it has become the public policy in several countries.  Our product brings Safety and Convenience to the elders who live by themselves.  Besides functioning as an Emergency Communicator, it is also a ‘hands free’ phone, an intercom and can be extended to provide other useful functionalities to the elderly.

There are several products today that provide Senior Safety service using an Emergency Communicator device.  They typically are a pendant with a button that can be pressed if the wearer falls or needs emergency assistance.  They do not have any other function.  Unfortunately, many elders often forget to wear this device and may not have it on the rare occasion when they actually need it.  Some elders even resent having to wear a device that is specifically designed for the “feeble”.  Our product is different in that it includes functionality that is useful throughout the day.  The elderly see it as a convenience and not as a scarlet letter.

We see elders as active members of society, not as liabilities that need to be monitored.  Our mission statement is "To bring convenience to the elderly through innovation."  Our customers use our devices because they want to, not just because they have to.  Our Service Providers, who respond to calls, will be encouraged to offer more than just emergency services. They will offer additional concierge services by accepting grocery orders, pizza delivery orders, prescription refill requests, etc.  They can remind the elderly of upcoming birthdays of their grandchildren, various senior events, etc.  If the senior is lonely and just wants to chat a bit, the call can be forwarded to someone who can provide that service.   It is a whole new market.

Like all other competitors’ products, our core product consists of a small pendant and a matching base station.  Unlike our competitors, our pendant also has a microphone.  Pressing the pendant button will call a preconfigured phone number of a family member, friend or an emergency responder service.  The pendant microphone is sensitive enough to pick up faint voices and transmit them digitally to the person at the other end of the connection.  The microphone is essential in case the elderly are in a room with the door closed (e.g. bathroom).  Also, feeble voices can be easily obscured if a TV is blaring loudly nearby.

Besides being an emergency lifeline, our product is also a hands-free cordless phone that can answer and originate phone calls.  The elderly can answer calls without needing to get up and find the phone handset; they simply press the pendant button and speak into the microphone.  Outgoing calls are conveniently made using a voice activated phone book which is built into the phone.  The elderly can press the button and say, for example, “Katrina” into the pendant.  The phone will find and call the preconfigured numbers for Katrina.  If Katrina does not answer at the first configured number, the next number will be tried.  Besides calling people, various services can be called by saying, for example, “Pizza” or “Pharmacy”.  Each name must be preconfigured into the phone book.  The phone book is language independent and allows elderly with arbitrary accents and languages to reliably use it.  No other product has this patent pending capability.  It will be hard for others to copy it.

Our product also functions as an in-house intercom.  People who have limited mobility may want a way to call for help (or service) within their house.  For example, a bedridden person may want some water but cannot speak loudly enough to be heard by someone in the next room.  They can press the pendant button and say the preconfigured name of the person in the house.  Words spoken softly into the pendant microphone will be repeated by the base station so that they can be clearly heard throughout the house.  This function is like a service buzzer.  No calls are made to external phone numbers.  This is a new and unique feature in this market.

Future extensions to our core product are aimed at bringing more convenience and service to the elderly.  A key point is that the extensions will share a common architecture that leverages the existing base station and the service provider relationship.  They include:

1. additional safety monitoring (like pulse, temperature and blood pressure monitoring),
2. security monitoring (like burglar alarms and motion sensors.) and
3. Internet access (like providing easy access to Facebook & Twitter).  Many elders find it hard to access popular Internet services.  Our product will be their convenient gateway to the Internet. 

Additional documentation is available detailing the product and describing plans for Engineering, Marketing and Sales.  The device will retail for less than $200.  We expect our customers to include existing and new service providers, as well as individual users.

Existing products provide one service: Emergency Communicator.  We provide that plus a combination of additional functionalities and conveniences.  The sheer value of our product makes it a winner!