Konichiwa! Thanks for clicking by today. Good to see you. Coffee's on and there's a tray full of delectable, lo-fat treats for you to sample. Y'know, it seems as though a lot of neat things are happening in Japan and China these days, doesn't it? Well here's yet another one...
Millions of Japanese seniors could receive iPads
under a program to supply the elderly with specially equipped tablets that
remind them when to take medicine and advise where to find community support
services.
A trial program announced by Japan Post, IBM and Apple,
will see 1,000 seniors given iPads free-of-charge for six months starting from
October, Japan Post said Friday.
If successful, that distribution could be increased to
five million by 2020, according to Apple.
Currently Japan Post provides a $1,000 yen ($8) monthly
service, dubbed "Watch Over", whereby postal workers check in on
elderly customers and report back to relatives about their well-being. Wouldn’t
that be a great program to have here, eh? Too bad our illustrious Canada Post is
doing its best to get rid of home delivery service altogether!
"We will start a trial service with some 1,000 iPads
custom-made for the elderly, using our existing Watch Over service," a
Japan Post spokesman told AFP Friday.
It was unclear if users would later be charged for the
devices.
On Thursday, Apple called the service "a
first-of-its kind initiative aimed at improving the quality of life for
millions of Japanese senior citizens".
"(The programme) will deliver iPads with
IBM-developed apps and analytics to connect millions of seniors with services,
healthcare, community and their families," the US tech giant said in a
statement.
Around a quarter of Japan's 127-million population is
aged 65 or over, a result of low birth rates over the last few decades and no
significant immigration.
The proportion is expected to grow to around 40 percent
in a few decades and products targeting seniors are seen as a significant
growth market.
Japan's vast postal system, little known abroad, sits on
assets worth up to 14 trillion yen and many of the country's swelling number of
elderly rely on it to receive their pension payments. Our Canada Post, on
the other hand, is sitting on nothing but its own butt moaning and bitching
about how it is losing money. Why would that be? Perhaps because it has had its
collective head stuck where the sun does not shine and is obviously incapable of
changing with the e-times!!
Japan Post -- which is on track for multi-billion-dollar
share listing in Tokyo later this year -- has long served as an insurer and
bank, in addition to delivering letters and parcels to even the most remote
villages.
“Now, where in blazes did I put that dang IPad thingmebob???
See ya, eh!
Bob
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