We’ve heard about wireless power for a long, long time and in the past few years, it seemed so close, but previous solutions were clunky and required customers to buy a replacement battery, which often existed for the most popular but also often most uncool (who said RAZR?) devices. Got luck getting an “early adopter” with a RAZR 1.0 in 2008. This time, the plan is different. The goal is to have CE manufacturers come to agree on some basic technology.
New devices need to be built with wireless power from the start. Also, it might eventually end up being cheaper for the manufacturer to add wireless power than include a power converter with every device. The level of annoyance for consumers will also plummet and happy customers tend to do more with their gadgets, andthat usually lead to more spending, right?
Anyhow, Fulton is the company that owns at least a large chunk of the wireless power intellectual property (IP). They come up with the technology, but don’t build anything other than a reference design. They sell that design to others that will adapt their own products to the tech. Motorola was showing a wireless power charger for their smartphone. It’s basically a pad that transfers energy to devices and when we say energy, we’re talking about power ranging from a few Watts to a Kilowatt. Their tech can be embedded in all kinds of flat surface from the top of DVD players (for remote controls) to desks or counter tops. You name it.
In the photo gallery, you’ll see black dots on several surfaces. That’s where the device has to be to get the juice. Hopefully, we will see a shift this year. If anything, the Palm Pre is already using like it. You can bet that others will follow.
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