Disqus
Well spin me around and call me Santa – there appear to be two wireless charging solutions that have come to light within days of each other – what is that all about!
On my travels the other day, I noticed a swathe of posters for the POWERMAT solution at Heathrow Airport – it stuck in my mind because the posters literally were everywhere. Then, only a couple of days later I see a post on TechDigest about the POWERPAD (by Gear4), which apparently claims to be the worlds first dedicated wireless charger for the iPhone. Well, I don’t know which came first, but one thing I do know is that both solutions work in the same way (mat, plus a jacket for the iPhone), and have very similar marketing angles – that said, let’s check ‘em out:
POWERMAT
The Powermat requires you to buy yourself a mat, which costs £69.99, and then an appropriate case – which for the iPhone 3GS is £34.99. You can only pre-order it currently, and it looks kinda like this:
POWERPAD (Gear 4)
The Powerpad ensemble comes for a total of £79.99 apparently, and includes both the mat and the iPhone case. Likewise you can only only pre-order and it look like this:
In case you were wondering the wireless bit is defined as being between the phone and mat (thought I’d just clarify that!), and uses inductive loop charging to deliver the ‘charge’ wirelessly.
Anyway, back to the mobile tech bit – if you want to know more about the POWERMAT go here, whereas if it’s the POWERPAD you fancy, go here.
If either company’s PR wants to explain which product was first, or why it’s the unique one, please feel free to email me 
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
