Either way, go with prepaid if you are in the US. Those "plans" the big carriers have are insanely costly. Over 10 years you are going to spend roughly $6,000

Either way, go with prepaid if you are in the US. Those "plans" the big carriers have are insanely costly. Over 10 years you are going to spend roughly $6,000 to $8,000 per cell phone. If you go iPhone, they have iMessage for texting which costs $0 on pre-paid but you both need to have iPhones. Use WiFi where you can (home, work) and find a pre-paid option for other times. iMessage is handy if a lot of her friends have iPhones. If her usage pattern doesn't involve lots of streaming movies or streaming audio then you really don't need a costly plan. My wife is non-technical and the iPhone is wife approved. Her mom (in her sixties) just got an iPhone and she can use it too.