Never too old to code: Meet Japan’s 82-year-old app-maker


  • TECH
  • Tuesday, 15 Aug 2017

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on July 13, 2017 shows 82-year-old programmer Masako Wakamiya speaking during an interview with AFP in Fujisawa, Kanagawa prefecture. When 82-year-old Masako Wakamiya first began working she still used an abacus for maths -- today she is one of the world's oldest iPhone app developers, a trailblazer in making smartphones accessible for the elderly. / AFP PHOTO / Kazuhiro NOGI / TO GO WITH Japan-tech-elderly,FEATURE by Karyn NISHIMURA-POUPEE

When 82-year-old Masako Wakamiya first began working she still used an abacus for maths – today she is one of the world's oldest iPhone app developers, a trailblazer in making smartphones accessible for the elderly. 

Frustrated by the lack of interest from the tech industry in engaging older people, she taught herself to code and set about doing it herself. 

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