Nokia, Qualcomm and Verizon assemble to move Wireless Power into the mainstream

By Robert Brand
published

Nokia, Verizon and Qualcomm look to shake things up during a power conference at the beginning of November The International Wireless Power Summit 2012, set to take place on 1-2 November, will involve industry heavyweights discussing furthering the cause of moving Wireless Power into the mainstream. We have recently seen Nokia go forward and incorporate Qi wireless charging into its new Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 smartphones. A bold move but it is just the start...

The event, which will last two days, will also see Daimler AG, Phillips, Powermat Technologies and the Wireless Power Consortium all presenting.

We saw Nokia bring some real innovation to their new smartphones by including the ability to wirelessly charge through inductive technology. Nokia in fact have adopted the Qi specification for standardizing wireless charging. Nokia of course will be presenting and we’re sure they will be showing off their new devices to the assembled industry leaders in this field.

The summit sets out to discuss wireless charging in the automotive industry as well as things such as wireless power being incorporated into packaging. Why include power in packaging? Well that’s likely for things such a shop displays, allowing toys to come to life without the need of a battery to power it on a shelf for instance. It’s certainly not just smartphones that will be getting all the attention as the applications for this technology are significant.

Conferences like these get these innovative technologies into the hands of people like us. In that sense, we’re excited to see it getting so much traction. We are certainly looking forward to a time when simply placing our smartphone on a coffee shop table will mean it’s simply charging. As we demand more and more from our gadgets and battery technology refuses to advance at a quicker rate, ubiquitous wireless charging solutions could mean the end to ever having to worry about charging your device. Sound good? We think so..

Let us know your thoughts on wireless charging. Is the Nokia wireless charging enough to get you to buy into their new devices?

Source: Bloomberg

Robert Brand
Robert Brand
33 Comments
  • Tesla
  • yup, this wireless charging sounds impressive, but consider the possibilities of wireless electricity!
  • Just thinking about wireless electricity makes me wish Tesla was still around.
  • If you haven't heard they're building a Tesla museum, they were trying to raise enough money to save the property. Here's the link, any donation is helpful.
    http://www.indiegogo.com/teslamuseum
  • Donated last week. The Oatmeal is great for doing this.
  • They still don't understand ? They want to bring back Jo Harlow on stage again ? Please no...
  • Yes... Let Tesla's work be known! Finally
  • Nice
  • Wireless charging was my favorite feature for the Palm Pre. I can't wait to get a Lumia 920.
  • I wanted to buy the 920 before I heard of the wireless charging. I am also very impressed with the big battery because the battery in Lumia 900 was not really enough. Now I am more excited then ever! :)
  • Video of Joe belfiore on Nokia conversations.. Still called it metro UI...
  • Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia, Serbian by nationality.
    One of the greatest inventors. He had a big wish to make a wireless electricty dostribution for all people without wires above the house.
  • Great idea but, the power companies would not make any money of it because they could not charge for something over the air, this is why we have wires.
     
    Gota love progress sometimes...
  • And this is why we still depend on oil. And Edison screwed it up. He screwed over Tesla, interesting history that's not taught in class, you have to look it up yourself.
  • Students in the US are taught to idolize Edison for his contributions to electricity when, seemingly, his contributions were only a drop in the bucket compared to Tesla's. In my opinion, Edison was simply a shrewd businessman; Tesla was the true scientist. He should get the kudos in middle school science classes.
  • Agreed.
  • Tesla was a true genius and invented many things that we use and need everyday. Edison is a good inventor but a better capitalist. When Tesla worked for Edison, Edison lied and stole all of Teslas' work.
  • Although it doesn't personally affect me, I wonder how ubiquity of charging surfaces would affect implanted medical devices. ([Kid's excited whisper] Hey, Tom! Watch what happens when Aunt Martha reaches across the table... Yes! Happens every time! Wait 'til she sits in the new chair we got her!...)
  • I love how most people react with "meh" to the Wireless Charging, like its not worth mentioning.
    If Apple would announce it the world would shat its pants.
    I fucking hate humanity
  • I'm with you on that.
  • +1 Lol
  • Sure, it's a great feature. But I've seen charging mats in stores for years. The other thing is the branding: Charging Pillow? That might sell to women and girls, but how many guys are going to gush to their friends that they've got a Charging Pillow?
  • LMAO! Spot on man!
  • If I could somehow integrate wireless charging into my cuddle pillow...
  • Philips*
  • Heart tesla
  • Wireless charging tweaks my interest but, it's kind of a moot point till everything I own supports it with out a dumb adapater of some type. A phone with wireless would be nice though.
     
    If my 3DS and Sony Vita had wireless charging on it, it would make it even better for me. It might even work if they make AA and AAAA batteies with it built in and a long range (like a foot away to charge), it might be worthy.
     
    You can do it with the fruit phone but, you need an adapter...
     
    I just wonder, is it possable to add one of these wireless charging adapaters at a low cost to a battery. So by just chaning a batter on a device, it will turn it into a wireless charging device.
  • This is a good step in the right direction. It will be complete with wireless electricity filling my home like WiFi does. No more stupid fuckin cables.
  • Can't wait for tech to stop using cables completely. Everything goes wireless. Shedding the restraints of a 20th century technology such as power cords would be the epitome of progress!
  • Except, well, for the cable that is plugged into your wireless charging pillow...  Just sayin'
  • This is a good step in the right direction. It will be complete with wireless electricity filling my home like WiFi does. No more stupid fuckin cables.
  • They need to get the big three video gaming companies and companies that make electric shavers in on this to.
  • Yes wireless charging was really hard to give up when it was time to retire my palm pre.  Now if only we could get M$ to implement something like the exposition mode that web os had.