News

San Diego, CA — February 9th, 2004, John and Patricia Turner invest in Ez-Living to explore possible business ventures in development and sales of products to the senior market.

John Turner stated "Our goal is to look at ways to sell in the senior market. We will be developing some selected products in mobility and telecom and selling products from major suppliers. We plan on launching a website which we can use to test various product and marketing strategies for how to sell to the senior market. Our goal is to put together a plan that eventually we can take to the venture capital community or take public. The senior market has been pretty much ignored by the mainstream retailers and manufacturers. With over 36% of the U.S. population now over 45 years old and at least 16% of the U.S. population having some kind of disability, such as hearing , sight, or mobility impairment, the opportunities are huge. Our challenge is how to put this all together into a plan and raise the money needed to launch this on a large scale. We will start small with the website, selling at some selected trade shows, mailings, etc., and then armed with what we learn we will take the next steps."

The target market/customer of Ez-Living is seniors and people with special needs more commonly referred to as persons with disabilities. In the United States today, 21 percent of the population is age 55 or older, and this is expected to grow to 25 percent by 2010. The senior market consists of 60 million consumers. Ez-Living will sell products encompassing Mobility, Communications, Safety & Convenience, Health, Entertainment, Hobbies and Services, which address the needs of this market.

Mobility products will include electric scooters, including some relatively inexpensive portable models. Communications Products include Telephones, Room Monitors, Radios, Call Center services and other products that serve the needs of Seniors. Telephones will include features such as amplified volume for the hearing impaired, larger displays, keys and other features that allow the product to be better utilized by the customer.

Safety & Convenience products include Visual Alert Devices (products which help those with hearing impairments, notification an alarm is ringing, someone is at the doors, etc.), room monitors, smoke detectors, and remote controls for lighting, weather radios and similar products. Health Products will include electronic air purifiers, pill dispensers, massagers, hearing aid batteries and other products targeted at senior or special needs health. Entertainment Products will include products of special interest to seniors. Products that have special attributes including simplified technology and nostalgic appeal.

Ez-Living has already identified over 350 products to sell and should have over 750 products in the line by the end of 2005. The product/sales plan of Ez-Living will put a major emphasis on quality. The Ez-Living start-up team consists of Mr. and Mrs. Turner, Mr. Robert Davidson, Mrs. Karina Davidson, Mrs. Kathy Gilmette and Mr. Brian Erpenbach. Ez-Living will operate out of the JPCG offices until the testing, sales and business plan is completed and funding is secured for retail launch.

Ez-Living was incorporated in February of 2004. The company plans on launch of a website and sales plan by year end. The company plans to have testing of the sales plan completed by summer of 2006, prior to seeking investment capital.

For additional information contact John Turner 619-602-7916 or jturner@jpcgm.com

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Additional press release - Ez-Livings first press release (May 2004)/

San Diego, CA — May 1, 2004, San Diego-based Ez-Living, Incorporated is working to simplify technology for the growing senior and special needs market. Ez-Living is a product company that designs, manufactures and sells consumer electronics and mobility products targeted at the baby boomer, elderly and special-needs consumer.

Ez-Living was founded by John Turner; a 29-year veteran of the consumer products industry.  Turner moved to San Diego from Michigan in 1981 to work for Executone Industries, a telephone equipment manufacturer who had a manufacturing plant in Kearny Mesa.  Three years later Executone Industries decided to relocate their manufacturing operation to Atlanta.

Turner said, "I was living in paradise (San Diego) and was faced with the decision to move back East or find another job.  Even back then I was thinking about ways to simplify technology.  After leaving Executone, a couple of partners and I designed a new telephone product that would allow multiple lines without a complex installation or central control box.”

“We were young, ambitious, the textbook example of entrepreneur, we went to Radio Shack with our product and left with a purchase order for 30,000 telephones! We did not have much money — but we had a big purchase order.  We leveraged this PO, built our company, built strong relationships in finance and manufacturing in Asia, including what became a 13-year partnership with G-Tek Electronics, a Malaysia-based factory,” Turner adds.

With the G-Tek partnership Turner’s company manufactured telephone products for Radio Shack, AT&T and most of the Bell companies. Five years ago, Teledex, one of the customers Turner developed and built phones for, acquired Turner’s company. Teledex is the world’s leading supplier of hotel guest room telephones.

Turner states, "I have always enjoyed developing products that had purpose.  After working with Teledex for 4 years the timing was right to leave and start Ez-Living.     Ez-Living plans to offer products that simplify the lives of our customers. In today’s high-tech, go-fast, do-everything world, lost in most of today’s products is simplicity.

As technology evolves many of us are left behind or left out because we don't have the time, patience or desire to want to read a numerous page manual or remember the steps needed to use all of the neat features available in today’s products.  Ez-Living is committed to the simplification of technology to give our customers products that are easy to use and improve the quality of their life."

Ez-Living’s products will put special emphasis on the baby boomer, senior and special needs customers.  According to the U.S. census bureau over 36% of the U.S. population is now over 45 years old.   Over 16% of the U.S. population has some kind of disability, such as hearing or sight impairment, mobility, physical disability, etc.

Take something simple like a cell phone.   Today most of the manufacturers are working to add more features, video cameras, web browsing, etc., difficult to understand features which make the buttons smaller, just the exact opposite of what our target market wants.

Ez-Living products encompass communications, mobility, safety and entertainment. Communication products are designed with extra-loud volume to compensate for hearing disabilities, large easy-to-see and use keys and simple operation. Mobility products (such as three and four wheel electric scooters) feature lightweight, long range and simple folding or easy take apart designs that can be easily packed in the trunk of a car, motor home or airplane.

Turner explained some of the motivation for Ez-Living.  "I am an aging baby boomer. As my friends and I grow older I realize how complicated life has become for our generation.  Computers, entertainment equipment and phones — some unbelievable technology available to us.   All of this comes with the price of complexity.  I am a pretty technology-savvy guy, but even I get embarrassed when we have company over and I can't simply set up the DVD to play without remembering what to select on the DVD, TV and stereo. For me this is an inconvenience, but for some it is worse.  I remember last year when we took the kids to see their grandmother in Michigan.  We went out for a walk and when we came back grandma was watching cartoons. I teased her about how her tastes in TV viewing have changed, but felt a little foolish when she told me it was because something was changed on the TV remote control and it would no longer change the channel.  The problem was a simple selection of TV from VCR, but for our 79-year-old grandmother she did not understand.  We went right out a bought a simple TV remote so she would not have this problem.

Another good example I can give is a good friend who is my age, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) about 8 years ago. In his condition he lost most of his mobility, his strength to be able to get out and do things. For the first couple of years this was devastating to my friend and then he found a foldable three-wheel electric scooter.  Lightweight and portable, he then had the ability to get out and do things again. A simple product that really did change his life. For Ez-living, we want to mass produce these products and make them affordable to everyone, even if it’s not covered by insurance. Products that will improve our customers’ lives."

For Ez-Living, Turner has assembled a strong management team who has worked with him at previous companies. This team includes Robert Davidson, Vice President of Product Development, Patricia Thenhaus, Vice President of Finance, and Kathren Gilmette, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. The company will have its operation’s based in San Diego with a purchasing/quality control support office in China.

Committed to simplicity,


Ez-Living is a founding member of the T-QOL “technology for quality of living” program.  T-QOL is a standard being developed to review products for ease of use, performance and quality as the product is to be used by the target consumer.  T-QOL puts a major emphasis on reviewing products for simplicity and ease of operation.  T-QOL works with the manufacturer to look at products from the end users perspective, seeking to eliminate complexity and simplify the use of the product by the consumer.

According to Turner, Ez-Living will be leasing office and warehousing space in San Diego (Kearny Mesa) and plans to launch the sales program later this fall.   The company will sell via a network of authorized Ez-Living dealers, an eCommerce web site and selected Ez-Living brand products will be sold via major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Costco.  The San Diego operation will include administration, engineering, marketing, telephone, internet sales, warehousing, shipping and customer service (call center).

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For other Ez-Living press releases and to be taken to the Ez-living website (click here)