Orange France will launch the Fujitsu Stylistic S01 smartphone for seniors on 13 June. Known in Japan as the Raku-Raku, the Android smartphone features a 4-in display, extra-large icons, shortcuts on the home screen and an emergency buzzer to alert people nearby and send a GPS information via SMS to pre-registered contacts. The Stylistic S01 also comes with audio technology that adjusts volume based on the surrounding sound, frequencies based on the user’s age and hearing abilities and can slows down the speech of a caller who is talking too fast. Les Echos writes that Fujitsu will be competing with Doro and Emporia in the seniors market, but with a smartphone and a mobile data service, rather than feature phones for voice and text.
Orange is selling the phone for EUR 89.90 on a two-year, EUR 29.90 a month Origami Zen 500 MB subscription. An accompanying smartphone pack will be sold for EUR 1 until 10 September, rising to EUR 49 thereafter. It provides for an in-store lesson at time of purchase of by appointment as well as a telephone support line offering free calls for the first three months.
Fujitsu France marketing director Daphne Alecian told Les Echos that France is a test market, after which the company hopes to enter other large European countries as well as the US. Fujitsu and Orange aim to sell 3,000 units at 91 participating stores in 50 French cities before a national launch in the autumn. Orange and Fujitsu showed the phone at MWC in February.
