A recent poll by the Polis opinion institute showed that a full 28 percent of mobile phone users are happy just to make calls with their handsets.

The proportion increases with the age of respondents: just three percent of those between the ages of 14-17 said they never send text messages but the rate is 33 percent of those over 60.

Sixty percent of adolescents say they like taking photos with their phones but only 16 percent of consumers over 40 are seeking the option.

So what will happen when granny, who can barely see without her glasses, has to find her way through an alphabet soup of MMS, SMS, UMTS and GPRS just to tell grandpa she missed her bus?

Finland's Nokia, the world's leading and oldest mobile phone maker with 30 percent of the global market, admits it has not yet developed a model especially for elders.

"One shouldn't underestimate seniors, they don't want an old phone," spokeswoman Kristina Bohlmann said at the CeBIT, the world's biggest high-tech fair.

She recommended starter models sold in countries where cellular phones are just beginning to take off. They offer basic functions at a reduced price.

At the stand of German competitor Siemens, there is only a landline telephone custom-made for older consumers: big buttons, a powerful volume control, easy-to-read display and four separate buttons for direct dial of emergency numbers with the option of an automated call for help.

But no such luck for elders on the move. Stefan Mueller of the communication products department recommended one of the stripped-down models which he said were "particularly popular with seniors".

But the mobile phone market still largely lacks products adapted to the needs of an ever-growing group of consumers with impressive buying power.

In Germany, people between the ages of 55 and 65 have the highest average net income, followed by the 65-70 set, and tend to rate the price of a product last in importance after brand name, quality and simplicity of use, German opinion research institute GfK said in a recent study.

But it is a "difficult market", admitted Frank Rittinghaus of the German company Vitaphone specializing in handsets for elders.

Ute Schack at British mobile phone giant Vodafone said part of the problem was that many aging consumers do not want to be overly conspicuous.

"Everything starts fresh in retirement. It's a second spring. And the big-button telephones, they don't fly," she said.

"The need is obvious but no one wants to admit it."

In Germany, Vodafone is offering a handset developed by Vitaphone aimed at elders and children. It receives calls like a normal phone but its keypad is reduced to three large buttons.

Users choose the numbers in their pre-programmed directory with the green and yellow buttons while the red one contacts a Vitaphone call center equipped to respond to a medical emergency.

Schack said that the phones are most frequently bought by parents for the children.

But to better reach older consumers, the company has launched a sales test at 50 German pharmacies.

Vitaphone is showing two other models at the CeBIT -- one including a GPS navigation system to locate the user within a radius of about 15 metersfeet), the other capable of performing an electrocardiogram.

"The information transmitted to the call center is evaluated and a doctor can be sent immediately if needed," Rittinghaus said.

The CeBIT in the northern German city of Hanover is expected to attract 500,000 people before it wraps up March 16.

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.