Mature Early Adopters and the Future of Mobile

I was perusing through a Henry Blodget, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry and Alex Cocotas presentation about the future of mobile and ran across this slide. It’s no surprise that smartphone owners today are mostly young, but it got me to thinking.

Is there anything (other than retirement homes, AARP, and other items built exclusively for the 60+ set) where early adoption was led by the retired set? Research shows older people are more receptive to television advertising’s promises, so why wouldn’t they be the first to purchase?

Know of any instances where the 60+ set were the early adopters for a popular product or item? Let me know in the comments.

Bonus Thought: The other day I was walking through Washington Square Park on my way to a meeting when I heard some kid (and by kid I mean probably mid-twenties) strumming his guitar and singing a kind of ballad. I only caught one line, but it went something like this:

It sucks sleeping in the park because sometimes your iPhone 4S gets stolen.”

As a digital marketer I’m still carrying around a 3GS. Imagine my horror when I discovered the homeless clan is way ahead of me in tech adoption.