Wireless charging holds much promise but has been held back by the fact that many different wireless charging standards exist. Things could get a little simpler in 2015 with two standards bodies announcing yesterday that they plan to merge later this year. The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) and Power Matters Alliance have signed a Letter of Intent that should see them merge by mid-2015.
One of the main objectives of the new organization is to accelerate the transition to volume economies of scale of wireless power transfer technology to benefit consumers, mobile network operators, consumer-facing commercial and retail brands, and the consumer electronics industry, including its semiconductor and manufacturing partners. Consumers will gain access to an exciting and enhanced battery charging and power management experience sooner across the full spectrum of devices in daily use. Mobile network operators and commercial and retail brands can commit to the necessary investment confident of stable, long-term evolution and management of innovative wireless charging technologies. For the consumer electronics industry, in particular, the benefit is the creation of a competitive, multi-source and innovative supplier base to drive value-added features into product roadmaps across a broad range of devices from Bluetooth headsets to wearables to smartphones, and on up to tablets, notebooks and laptops, among many others.
The merger does not signal the immediate move to fewer standards unfortunately. A number of different technologies including PMA, Rezence and Qi have been introduced in recent years and will continue to be around for a while yet. Kamil Grajski, Board Chair and President, Alliance for Wireless Power, points out that many devices support multiple standards. The merger will instead focus on enabling “the market to apply technologies to their best use cases.” Perhaps it will help at least cut down on a few to make it less confusing for consumers to adopt wireless charging for more of their mobile devices.
The merged entity will operate under a new name that has yet to be announced.
Sources : Power Matters Alliance // Re/code