Wireless Power - about to explode?

The market for wireless power, i.e. charging and powering electrical/electronic devices without cables, is about to get "big"... 

History of Wireless Power

It's a technology that's been around for some time, with theoretical interest sparked (apologies for the pun) by Tesla in the 1890s and which re-emerged in the 1960s. But, as a technology, it has suffered from technical difficulties and a few false starts that have curtailed its true potential. However, that's about to change.

Wireless Charging Standards and Emerging Ecosystems

2009 saw the emergence of the Wireless Power Consortium, formed to try and establish a new industry standard (Qi specification) for wireless inductive charging. What's emerged from the WPC is a wireless power ecosystem; the following chart gives a flavour of the companies involved, with over 100 members:

Source: Wireless Power Consortium

Unfortunately, a factor that has probably slowed down the development of this market, are a number of other "standards". Qualcomm has developed its own proprietary inductive charging technology, WiPower; and, has signed an agreement with Powermat and Duracell to develop wireless chargers. UL 2738 is another wireless charging standard.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is also making efforts to develop a universal standard, although it's planned to be much broader in scope than Qi, WiPower and UL 2738 and able to serve a wider range of technologies.

Another group, the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), is looking at wireless power but with a different agenda, i.e. to enable "spacial freedom for the charging of electrical devices". The focus here is to go beyond charging in a static location and looking at charging on many more types of devices around the home and office based on delivery of power via antenna.

Market Developments: Wireless Power Pads

There are a few different ways in which the wireless power technology will likely expand, the first being the development of static charging plaftorms, or pads, for devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops. The origins of these wireless charging pads dates back to the first prototype invented by Prof. Shu Yuen (Ron) Hui in 2000; however, it wasn't until around 2009 that the first commercial products were launched, a notable example being the Palm Touchstone wireless charger.

Other commercial solutions followed but all involved the need to put the devices to be charged into a sleeve or custom "door" (as per the Energizer Qi, the Powermat, and the Duracell MyGrid) to enable charging. However, lack of consumer awareness and interest meant they didn't really take off. 

Next Steps: 2011 and beyond 
In 2011, HTC and LG started incorporating wireless charging capabilities into some of their smartphones; and, even more recently, Samsung's Galaxy SIII became the latest smartphone to incorporate this technology. Samsung is also due to start selling its own charging mat, available from June 2012; and, will likely be followed by a whole host of other manufacturers products in the latter half of 2012 and into 2013.

In the short- to medium-term, tablet and laptop charging products are expected to follow; and, if you consider how many devices are out there globally this market is ready to boom.

Interesting times...standby for take-off!

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