Wouldn’t life be so much better if you had an iPad? Apple thinks so, and so does IBM and the Japanese government. That’s why the three of them have joined forces to bring iPads to four or five million elderly people in Japan by 2020. Each tablet will be pre-loaded with “quality of life” apps that will supposedly make these elderly people’s lives easier.
In partnership with a company called Japan Post, IBM and Apple plan to bring an iPad-based service to 4 or 5 million elderly people in the Asian nation by 2020. Japan Post is a government-owned holding company that runs a postal service, and it already offered a “watch over” service through which, for a fee, postal employees checked up on elderly people and reported back to their families about their well-being. If all goes as planned, by next year, that same Japan Post worker will show up at elderly people’s homes with an iPad loaded with “quality of life” apps that help do things like scheduling medical appointments, hiring home maintenance professionals, volunteering, and coordinating travel. When the postal service employees check in, they’ll also help their customers with any questions about using this suite of apps.