Computer-free e-mailing attracts low-tech seniors

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Anyone who has tried to show grandma how to use a mouse knows that computers are anything but second nature to America's older population. But where other technology companies saw a nonexistent market, one firm has established a niche.

Celery, a new service developed by a Troy, N.Y., company of the same name, allows users to send and receive e-mail messages and photos without a computer.

"For we older people, it is just the most wonderful thing," said 85-year-old Dorothy Miller, who found computer keyboards too complicated and now uses Celery to keep in touch with her family.

The service involves a phone line and its own brand-name device or standard fax machine. To send an e-mail, users hand write a note or tape an image to a standard-sized piece of paper, place it in the machine and press two buttons. The message then appears in a recipient's inbox in a portable document format.

When they receive an e-mail, Celery users get an alert in the form of a phone call.

"My mom is 77, and she refused to go online," said Andrew Gibson, Celery's chief executive officer. "It resonated with me. I saw the need for it."

The 13-person company, which has been selling the product since March, prices its color copier and fax machine device, with a one-year subscription, at $259. Those who have an existing fax machine can purchase one year of color service for $139.

"People are using this thing the way that you and I use e-mail," Mr. Gibson said. "We've heard some very fun anecdotes that it's changed their lives."

Ms. Miller, a Troy resident, said the device has helped her get to know her third grandchild, who suffers from epilepsy and is not very talkative on the phone.

"I write him every day," she said. "He'd give me a weather report, and then I got all sorts of news about the family."