Actually, my mom got a (new) cell phone last week. One of her presents this holiday season was to replace her museum-quality cell phone with something more . . . today. When my son and I met up with her at the Verizon store, we were quite the trio. My biggest priority: ease of use for Mom. Her biggest priority: loud enough for her to hear it. My son's biggest priority: using the opportunity to scope out the next phone he begs me for.
My mom's no longer techno-phobic. Gone are the days when she needed three pages of notes to listen to her phone messages, program her VCR, or play a CD. She's been using a cellular phone sparingly for a few years, and she has a laptop with DSL Internet. She's nowhere near ready for, say, an iPod, or any digital music device. She's really come a long way technologically, I'm really proud of her, and proud to be her tech support guy.
Her new phone plays downloaded mp3s. Please don't tell her.