Duracell Powermat has announced the availability of wireless charging in select Starbucks stores in the Silicon Valley area. The expansion of the wireless charging evaluation follows a successful test of the wireless charging technology in select Starbucks stores in the Boston area.
“Duracell Powermat offers the cure for dead battery anxiety,” said Stassi Anastassov, president of Duracell at Procter & Gamble. “Look around any Starbucks and you will see smartphones being placed on tables. Today these phones are losing power as they sit there, but once a table is equipped with Powermat technology, simply placing a phone on the table will recharge it.”
“We know that our customers use our cafes in a number of ways beyond buying coffee. For some, it’s their home office, for others it’s their place to get away and have some time to themselves. More and more customers are using Starbucks as their home base and they are looking to recharge in a number of ways,” said Adam Brotman, chief digital officer, Starbucks Coffee Company. “We have seen positive customer response to wireless charging through our tests in Boston, and are pleased to now extend this experience for 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 wireless power, so that any PMA-certified device will charge simply by being placed on the tabletop. Several companies, including Duracell Powermat, offer PMA-certified smartphone cases and portable batteries, and AT&T recently announced that many of its smartphones will ship with PMA wireless charging technology next year. Blackberry, HTC, LG, Samsung, ZTE and other smartphone makers have also signed on to the PMA.
“Wireless charging technology is becoming mainstream and people are beginning to expect that just like WiFi, they’ll be able to charge up in those places that they ordinarily visit throughout their day. There are no better partners for us to be working with to make wireless charging ubiquitous than AT&T, Starbucks and Procter & Gamble,” said Ran Poliakine, CEO of Powermat Technologies
