Wireless charging standard in search

Functions increasing number of devices, batteries last as long, forcing him to seek solutions as wireless charging. However, users might get lost between 3 different existing technical standards, presented last week at CES 2013.

The Wireless Power Consortium, which brings together hundreds of companies, came to promote at  CES 2013 their standard called Qi, to load device by simply placing it on top of a charger without plugging. It already boasts 130 types of compatible devices and 10 million total in use. "This is the only consortium that has real products on the market," said CJ Moore Fulton Innovation, a technology business member of the consortium, which also includes Nokia, LG, Panasonic and Texas Instruments.

CJ Moore showed at CES variety of charging stations used, which can be installed at home, but also in airports or cafes. The French company has already installed Gidophone a hundred paying Qi charging stations in Europe. "The response to our booth was phenomenal," says Christian Pineau, vice-president of sales, and the company intends to expand in the United States.

 But Qi is no longer the only standard

The Alliance for Wireless Power, which has 30 members, including Samsung, Qualcomm and Deutsche Telekom are promised a solution loading "new generation", using another standard that is not compatible. "Consumers prefer to charge multiple devices at the same time," said its president Kamil Grajsk during a press conference where he showed various types of chargers such as coffee tables or armrests car. He acknowledged that the existence of several standards could create confusion among consumers. But "it is a competitive market. No company or group can declare winner," he said. Some groups, like Samsung, are also members of the two alliances.

A third organization called Power Matters Alliance, supported by Google, AT & T and Procter & Gamble / Duracell and puts forward its own technology, for its part, announced in Las Vegas have gained 30 new members. Its president Ariel Sobelman argued that it met "the undisputed world leader in its class" and worked to create a "true global ecosystem." His standard is tested in Starbucks stores in the Boston area in cooperation with Duracell, owned by Procter & Gamble, and Delta Air Lines has installed charging stations in airports compatible. General Motors also provides, according to the covenant, to use it in some of its vehicles.

 What standard will impose in the end ?

It's like the battle between VHS and Betamax ", the two video standards that were opposed in the 1980s, said Jack Black, a scientific society DLS Electronics, which supports the Qi standard." At the end, impose a market standard. "in the meantime, the Dutch company NXP semiconductor product components that could allow shippers to use different standards." We are looking at a solution that would recognize your device and load "explains his representative at CES Kai Neumann.

But other solutions may emerge, as more durable batteries, antennas and equipment improved by better managing their supply.