Calling all seniors: Verizon Wireless has a phone and a plan for you

Perhaps banking on a sense that only someone over 65 would know what a “coupe” is, Verizon Wireless launched a handset by that name along with a rate plan aimed at the older crowd’s yearning for simplicity, safety and economy.
The Coupe handset will sell at the carrier for $20 with a two-year agreement. The carrier also launched its America’s Choice 65 Plus Calling Plans alongside the phone.
The Verizon Wireless-branded handset offers what the carrier touted as a streamlined user interface, dedicated keys that provide one-button access to up to three emergency numbers, plus 911, voice-activated dialing and color-coded functions to increase ease-of-use. The homescreen offers numbers in large font size.
The carrier offered two calling plans: a single-line plan with 200 anytime minutes and 500 night and weekend minutes for $30 per month and a two-line plan with 450 shared, anytime minutes and 1,000 shared night and weekend minutes for $60. Both plans offer domestic long distance and IN Calling, which offer connections to other Verizon Wireless customers without cutting into plan minutes.
The offers, tailored as they are to a specific demographic group, appear designed to meet an under-served constituency, one that may still harbor cellular holdouts.
Verizon Wireless isn’t the only company targeting seniors; the mobile virtual network operator Jitterbug offers a similar service, including a simplified phone from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Jitterbug, backed by GreatCall Inc., recently raised $36.6 million in funding.