GrandPad

GrandPad was founded in 2014[1] by Scott Lien, a former Intuit executive, and his son, Isaac Lien.[2] The elder Lien serves as the company's CEO.[3] Its headquarters are in Orange County, California where many of the technological aspects of the business are housed. The operational aspects[4] of GrandPad are based in Minnetonka, Minnesota.[5] The first GrandPad tablet was launched in January 2015.[6]

In March 2016, GrandPad entered into a strategic partnership with technology and hardware company, Acer, which saw the latter company make an equity investment in GrandPad.[7] Later that year, GrandPad partnered with Comfort Keepers (a firm offering in-home care to seniors) to provide their tablets to seniors in the Comfort Keepers network.[8] In 2017, an updated version of the tablet was released with input from Acer.[9] Also that year, the company collaborated with Lyft to integrate the ride-hailing service's app into the GrandPad interface.[10]

In May 2018, it was announced that senior citizen-focused wireless network company, Consumer Cellular, invested in GrandPad.[11] Consumer Cellular also announced that it would become a distributor of the GrandPad tablet in the United States.[12] In January 2019, Home Instead Senior Care, another in-home health network for elderly care, made a minority investment in GrandPad with a plan to integrate the technology into their services.[1] In March 2019, GrandPad opened its first European office in Gorey, Ireland,[13] which was established to support its European operations.[14]

The tablet is 8-inches and weighs 12.5-ounces. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor with 2GB of RAM and uses the Android operating system but with a specialized interface.[15] It comes with a Qi wireless charging dock and has 4G LTE internet access is built in.[9] Contacts and photo albums are managed remotely, typically by a relative. Only approved users can send e-mail messages or video chat requests through a companion GrandPad app on their phones. Games, articles, and music are tailored to the interests of the tablet user. No Wi-Fi, home phone lines, or passwords are required.[15] The technology is supported by a network of customer service agents who are on-call 24/7.[5] Other features include games, an encyclopedia, news articles, weather reports, a flashlight, a magnifying glass,[15] and the ability to call a Lyft.[10]

• Official website