Wireless power group sees standard within 6 months

IDG News Service - The group developing a standard for wireless charging expects to complete its first specification within six months, opening the door for makers of cell phones, digital cameras and other devices to bring compatible products to market.

Wireless charging lets consumers place gadgets on a mat that plugs into a wall outlet, and have the devices recharge automatically without needing to plug in each one. Apart from the gee-whiz factor, it's supposed to make life more convenient by letting people walk into their home or office, toss their gadgets onto a mat to recharge and forget about them.

There are still questions about when standardized products will come to market and how they'll be received, but the Wireless Power Consortium aims to finish its first standard before the middle of the year, said Menno Treffers, a Philips executive who is chairman of the consortium. If it's not ready by then, "I will eat my hat," he told a group of vendors at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday.

The consortium has 27 members including Nokia, Research In Motion, Philips, Sanyo, Samsung Electronics, Energizer and Hewlett-Packard, as well as component and wireless-power technology companies such as Texas Instruments and Fulton Innovation.

The standard is for a technology called magnetic induction, in which power is transferred between metal coils built into the device and the charging mat when they are placed close to each other. The standard is for delivering up to 5 watts of power, which covers most smaller devices. A further standard will be needed for laptops and larger products. "We want to start on that as soon as possible, but for now we don't want to dilute our engineering efforts," Treffers said.

Consumers will know which products are compliant because they'll carry the consortium's "Qi" logo (pronounced "chee" after the Chinese for life force). Initial products are likely to come bundled with a small charging mat of their own, but if the technology takes off other companies are likely to sell mats that can charge multiple devices at once.

Several wireless power products are already in the market, including a Nintendo accessory from Energizer for recharging Wii game controllers, a Dell Latitude Z business laptop that can be recharged by placing it on a stand, and products from Powermat for charging phones and other devices. Bosch has shown power tools that are recharged by laying them on a workshelf.

But a standard is seen as important to wider adoption because it ensures that devices will interoperate. Until it arrives, some vendors won't release any further products. "We're done for now until the standard is complete," said Serge Traylor, brand manager for charging and rechargeable systems with Energizer. When the standard is done, Energizer will release a mat for charging as many as two devices, for about $100, and charging sleeves for iPhone and Blackberry devices, for $30 to $40, he said.