Investments in tele-care infrastructure are an increasing financial burden for private households because financial support of public authorities has decreased for several reasons. On the other hand, the presence of satisfactory IT infrastructure and the availability of commercial-off-the-shelf (Cots) smart devices could be a possible alternative. Being quite affordable, the adaptation of such devices for the usage in tele-health and tele-care seems to solve the financial problem. However, users of tele-health systems are usually people with a low level of technical know-how and computer literacy, e.g. elderly people. Consequently, besides other requirements, the usability of the systems used in tele-care has to be high. Based on the outcome of a field study, scenarios of future research regarding the applicability and usability of off-the-shelf smart appliances are discussed.