Following a successful trial rollout at 17 stores in Boston, Starbucks has decided to join up with Powermat to bring the company's wireless charging tech to Silicon Valley. The first installation will be completed this Sunday, at a store in San Jose, with up to 10 area locations set to be online before the end of August. Powermat President Daniel Schreiber explained that Silicon Valley was selected in order to boost the technology's exposure among key industry players -- AT&T has already confirmed that several of its smartphones will be compatible with the PMA standard in 2014, but the alliance needs event more support in order to grow momentum. The next logical step for this partnership would be for Powermat to sell coffee-resistant charging cases in Starbucks stores, of course, though neither company has made any announcements to that effect.
San Jose, Calif. July 26, 2013 - Duracell Powermat today announced theavailability of wireless charging in select Starbucks stores in the Silicon Valleyarea. The expansion of the wireless charging evaluation follows a successfultest of the wireless charging technology in select Starbucks stores in theBoston area.
"Duracell Powermat offers the cure for dead battery anxiety," said StassiAnastassov, President of Duracell at Procter & Gamble. "Look around anyStarbucks and you will see smartphones being placed on tables. Today thesephones are losing power as they sit there – but once a table is equipped withPowermat technology, simply placing a phone on the table will recharge it.""We know that our customers use our cafés in a number of ways beyondbuying coffee. For some, it's their home office, for others it's their place toget away and have some time to themselves. More and more customers areusing Starbucks as their home base and they are looking to recharge in anumber of ways," said Adam Brotman, chief digital officer, Starbucks CoffeeCompany. "We have seen positive customer response to wireless chargingthrough our tests in Boston, and are pleased to now extend this experiencefor our customers in the Silicon Valley area."
Wireless charging at Starbucks will comply with the Power Matters Alliance(PMA) standard - the fastest growing standard and ecosystem for wirelesspower - so that any PMA-certified device will charge simply by being placedon the tabletop. Several companies, including Duracell Powermat, offerPMA-certified smartphone cases and portable batteries, and AT&T recentlyannounced that many of its smartphones will ship with PMA wireless chargingtechnology next year. Blackberry, HTC, LG, Samsung, ZTE and othersmartphone makers have also signed on to the PMA.