Not to be confused with existing wireless charging solutions that depend on contact between a surface of the device and a specialized charging mat, at-a-distance charging means your phone can charge while it is still in your pocket.
According to Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan (video embed in the article), we might see this technology in a product sometime next year. If so, that would be a bit of a game changer.
Apple needs a “true” game changer.
The technology has been around for at least 10 years. The startups trying to commercialize have clearly struggled to make it practical or mainstream. Assuming Apple has figured this out (not surprising), it’d be interesting to see how they get around the pre-existing IP.
Yep, and Witricity has been advertising wireless charging at a distance for a couple years.
Uh, do you really want your phone being charged by energy shot into your lap?
why do they “need” that? theyre currently the largest publicly traded company, the most profitable public company in history, and produce the most successful consumer good in the history of our species.
what are they doing wrong?
ideas arent protectable, only implementations. we have no idea which implementations may one day be in use.
Uh, it is already is in the form of radio waves. Those voices you hear coming from your phone aren’t just in your head.
Let me preface by saying that I don’t believe Apple is going anywhere for a while. They will probably continue to be making hand over fist and stay very relevant in the industry. But I’m pretty sure Apple isn’t settle for just that. I believe they need something that creates a HUGE distance from the rest of the pack when it comes to smartphones. The wireless charging capability potential talked about in this article is no doubt huge and can provide them that. So in saying they “need” a true game changer will simply just be in line with what Apple has always been in the past. Otherwise what are we settling for each year? A thinner, lighter, faster iPhone with a better camera?
That’s theory. Practice is whole different story. Doesn’t sound like you have worked with really good patent attorneys
Have you ever had these expectations of any other company?
Any top tech companies will always look for “true” game changer, not just Apple. It will be nice if Apple does find it again but somehow I doubt it’s a necessary factor. What is this “true” game changer from their competitors?
“Radio waves” sounds smart. Tip: Keep you phone out of your pocket.
How about not nagging or forcing users to upgrade to (arguably) a worse OS or other software…
No way. Nicola Tesla solved this in the Early 18th century!
Hot pocket. Ionizing radiation is the worst! Tip, don’t shoot your radio into your pants, yet the younger generations always do.
That’s your “true” game changer?
Not a chance.
Current “existing wireless charging solutions” do NOT “depend on contact between a surface of the device and a specialized charging mat”.
They must be above the charger, within a particular linear proximity for efficiency, and some technologies require specific alignment, but there is no need for physical contact. The transmission of power is done completely “wirelessly” from transmitter to receiver. The fact that the AppleWatch relies upon a magnet to secure the watch to the surface of the charger is merely for alignment purposes, not for transmission purposes.
The BETTER solutions actually use magnets in the charger to spin the transmission coil rather than require the user to perfectly align the charging device (which has the receiving coils). Palm had a solution that did this nearly 10 years ago that worked great.
Apple created and owned a new market, suffered a near death experience, came back to be one of the largest companies on the planet and completely up ended at least three markets forever and changed the way millions of people interacted with their content while forcing major industries down new paths.
The overwhelming majority of companies never do one of those things, some only ever do one, less lucky to have one or two.
Apple will continue to do what Apple does until they don’t. And what they are doing right now is building on an ecosystem and interlocking hardware schema that has been growing for 15 years. It’s almost ungrateful, on one hand, to demand they keep “changing the game” when everyone is currently playing by their rules. On the other, it’s a “what have you done for me lately” attitude that’s… Well, still ungrateful.