Elderly people could use a simple cellular phone for medical emergencies. Everyone has seen the alert service ads for in-home emergencies. You know the one that sells the necklace with a red button on it. The old ads had a lady screaming "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!" Finally, a company claims the specific purpose of offering that service on a portable model. Gemini Technologies offers a small GPS tracking, emergency cell phone.

Some key points about the device are :

• Exact (street level) positions sent to Cell Phone via SMS
• One of the smallest GPS tracking device on the market
• Emergency SOS button with alerts sent to Cell Phone
• Geo Fencing
• Functions as a cell phone
• Real Time Tracking over the internet

Businessweek Online published a related article.

There seem to be a lot of people whose needs are not being met by existing wireless offerings, including the elderly, the disabled, and folks who just want an easier way to make and receive calls.

One of the products they address in an article on phones for kids discussed the Firefly phone and service. My father looked at this one for my grandmother. It's a simple enough phone, until you realize how difficult adding numbers will be. And, still there is no big 911 button. When one's eyesight may be limited, it's not going to fit the bill.

Popular Mechanics' article on Tricked out cellphones talks about Remote MDx, a system that uses an old analog standard and covers ninty-eight per cent of the US with emergency service.

Remote MDx subscribers use the Magnavox MobilePAL+GPS wireless phone ($99 to $299 depending on the plan, plus $10 monthly for basic service) which has one function: to place a call in the event of road trouble or a medical emergency. Designed for elderly drivers who don't want or need a cellular phone, MobilePAL sports a big red button rather than a keypad, and callers who hit the button are immediately connected to a nationwide call center.

Another prospect is LG's VX-1000. It has four programmable numbers, with big 1, 2, 3, 4, send and end buttons. This model is targeting parents with a focus on small children. It's not designed to be an emergency phone for people with sight challenges or for use in a medical emergency. It does fit a growing market need for the niche of simple, broad footprint phones.

Both the LG and MDx solution use more reliable CDMA and TDMA, older cellular technologies. Of everything I reviewed, Remote MDx most likely fills this need today.