Big box technology retailer Best Buy certainly appears to be “in it to win it.” In 2016, Alfred Poor covered GreatCall’s senior-friendly smartphones and nationwide GreatCall 5Star 24/7 emergency service for older users. In 2018 Best Buy acquired GreatCall and renamed the division Lively. Last year, in early June 2021, I wrote about Best Buy Health Division’s Lively Smart low-cost smartphone for active seniors and the evolving emergency call service system for elders renamed the Lively Health & Safety Package. Best Buy Health continues to develop the Lively platform. Early this month Lively announced that Lively emergency services are now accessible with Alexa-enabled smart home devices.
Subscribers to the Lively Urgent Response service (the latest name) who also own an Amazon Echo, Echo How, Echo Dot, or Fire TV cube can simply say, “Alexa, call for help.” Fire Tablets in Show Mode also work with the Lively Urgent Response service. The Alexa digital voice platform connects the user to an agent immediately, according to the new release. The agent assesses the problem and dispatches appropriate assistance as warranted. Subscribers can access Lively Urgent Response in several ways. In addition to the newly added Alexa devices, users can reach the emergency service with Lively devices, with Apple Watches, and with the web-based Lively app. The low cost Alexa-enabled devices work well together and are easy to set up, which means users could put a voice-activated device in every room of their homes for comprehensive coverage.
According to Best Buy Health president of active aging David Inns, “Our customers want to live independently in their homes and offering Lively Urgent Response on Alexa is a great way for them to easily and discreetly access the help they may need with a simple voice command.”
Like Best Buy Health’s Inns, we’re enthusiastic about Best Buy’s continued attention to and technology development to support seniors who prefer the independence of aging-in-place.
