A wireless charger that is a flexible mat that can be rolled up and taken with you and all your power hungry electronic devices! Unbelievable! But, that is what Izhar Matzkevich, president of Wildcharge Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona claims on their web site www.wildcharge.com. According to PC World, Splashpower wanted to rid our lives of cords, wires and become unplugged, but no product has made it to the market. (See the article about Splashpower on Wikipedia.org.) This United Kingdom company may have snoozed and lost. Maybe Wildcharge will come through at the 2007 International Consumer Show in Las Vegas this January with their version of life unplugged.
Wildcharge, Inc. is a new company formed in 2005. A company that envisioned consumers using one universal charger for all their electronic needs. Devices such as cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, laptops, portable games, such as Nintendo DS lite will be placed on a mat, that plugs into an wall outlet and then charged. The mat will not over-charge any of the devices and deliver as much power as each individual device needs. President Matzkevich started the idea of a charger pad when he was working at a Silicon Valley firm called MobileWise. Like many new companies, costs ran too high and the company collapsed. But, Mr. Matzkevich did not fold and he sought the help of inventor, Mitch Randall. Together, they re-sparked interest in the Wildcharge, which has passed manufacturers tests, according to an article in the Arizona Republic, written on Dec. 17, 2006. Apparently, the original idea was invented by a Colorado engineer, who visualized preschoolers driving their downsized 4X4’s and pint size Harley’s over a handy pad to power up.
Now don’t think it is that simple. There is always some kind of adapter involved. Each device, such as a cell phone will have a unique adapter that attaches itself to the Wildcharger mat. If this product is a winner, I would image future sales of cell phones, electronic games, digital cameras, laptops will have a logo, stating it is Wildcharge compatible. For example; a Hewlett Packard printer is PictBridge compatible. Meaning some digital cameras can be directly plugged into the printer.
If this technology is successful, airports, hotels, will cater to Wildcharge consumers. Either offer complimentary Wildcharge pads in their rooms for their compatible devices or convenient locations to charge all your portable electronic devices. No need to carry an extra bag for adapters and chargers.
So, remember if you are in the market for a new mobile device, wait and see if the Wildcharger is a hit. Then buy a WildCharge-enabled mobile device. The pads may be available in the first half of 2007. The pad would come with an adapter or a plate that replaces the back of a cellphone or other device and sell for $40.00 to $100.00
