Big Tech in AgeTech 2022 Update – What’s the Latest and What Can We Expect?
With tech spending among older adults estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars annually, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that major tech companies are proactive about acquiring older adults and their families as customers.
I’ve been monitoring big tech in AgeTech for several years now, and it seems that everyone wants a piece of the longevity economy pie. Amazon and Apple in particular have been consistent in releasing features specifically for older adults on a regular basis.
So, what it the current status of big tech companies when it comes to AgeTech, and where are they headed?
AgeTech Offerings from Tech’s Giants
Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook have always had products and services that could benefit older adults. In recent years, they’ve been diligent about not only releasing features for older adults and their family members, but also marketing to those audiences. Since family members often support buying decisions, especially when it comes to tech, and help set up devices – they are major stakeholders.
Apple
With the release of the Apple Watch Series 4, Apple released their fall detection feature and even got FDA clearance on irregular heart rhythms detection – two features that can appeal to older users. In 2020, they released a feature that is called “Family Setup” – meant for older adults who don’t have an iPhone but still want to use an Apple Watch. The watch is also capable of sharing GPS location with family members, making calls and sending text messages.
On top of the Apple Watch, Apple also released a “gait assessment” feature, which enables you to measure your walking steadiness with your iPhone. This is hugely important because it enables anyone using an iPhone to receive a notification if their steadiness level is low enough to put them at risk for a fall within the next year. Falls are the being the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide, and one out of four older adults suffer a fall each year – so Apple’s move to make gait assessment accessible to more people on a daily basis has the potential to save many people’s lives.
Amazon
Amazon has been successful with bringing its smart assistant Alexa to millions of homes. Echo devices have long been used by older adults and their family – thanks to pioneering voice apps like Ask Marvee or features like the “drop in”. Alexa has recently conquered another piece of hardware – cell phones. Older consumers can now talk to Alexa using Best Buy’s Alexa enabled flip phones.
In 2020, they launched the Alexa Care Hub (free) which evolved into Alexa Together (paid) in 2021. Alexa Together allows families to remotely check in on their aging loved ones, set up notifications, “drop in” with a video/ voice and even detect falls using compatible third-party fall detection devices. It also enables users to get “hands free” access to professional Urgent Response agents 24/7.
During Covid-19 lockdowns, thousands of Amazon Echo devices were distributed to senior living communities to help socially isolated residents. In 2021, Amazon launched Alexa Smart Properties to bring Alexa to senior living communities and healthcare systems. Alexa Smart Properties enables care providers to deploy and manage Alexa-enabled devices at scale and offer customized Alexa experiences for residents and patients.
Amazon is not the only big tech company actively pursuing older adults and care providers with smart speakers. Google has been piloting a simpler interface of the Nest Hub Max designed specifically for older adults in senior living communities. They published guide helping family members set up the Next Hub Max for their older relatives.
All three companies have traditionally been competitors in the smart home arena, in which widespread adoption has been stunted by the lack of a universal connectivity protocol. This meant that end users had to choose carefully which devices and smart speakers to install, if they wanted them to be able to communicate with one another.
This year, Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and other major players – have publicly announced their support in Matter connectivity protocol, which will enable all of your smart home devices to work together.
There are other ways for tech giants to get involved in AgeTech
Like any highly profitable company, when big tech companies want to expand into a new market (in this case – AgeTech), they don’t necessarily have to develop their own products or features. They can also invest in or acquire smaller players.
Investments
Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung and Google have venture capital arms. Apple doesn’t have its own fund, but it did invest over $1B in Softbank’s Vision Fund.
Google has three main investing arms, and when it comes to aging, Google’s VCs tend to be more focused on the health, care and insurance aspects and so, they have backed companies like Care.com, Oscar Health and Ready.
Samsung has 2 VCs: Samsung Ventures and Samsung Next. They have backed companies that have a hardware based product like Pillo Health (acquired by Black & Decker), Welt, EarlySense and Intuition Robotics.
Last but not least, Amazon’s Alexa Fund has funded startups that enhance and support the Alexa ecosystem. These companies include Voiceitt, Labrador Systems, and Aiva Health.
Acquisitions
Another way for tech giants to get involved is by acquiring smaller players. While none of the big tech companies have acquired any age tech companies as of yet, Amazon did take a major step forward when it acquired online pharmacy PillPack back in 2018, and is bound to have older users. The biggest acquisition in the history of AgeTech as of yet is still Best Buy’s acquisition of GreatCall for $800M.
Big tech companies have so much to gain from entering the AgeTech space and getting their devices in the hands and homes of older adults, so it’s not surprising to see that many of them are gradually taking a stronger hold of the market. I suspect that this trend will only grow and reach more and more companies in the near future, and that we might even see one of the major players acquire another startup in this space soon.
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