PMN

Splashpower Gradually Nearing Commercial Deployment
26 February 2004

I had a chance to catch-up with Splashpower, the company behind the innovative wireless charging solution, while at 3GSM. Splashpower has been working on this concept for some time and is getting closer to having a commercial offering in the market. The technology is already quite refined, but there are numerous business and partnership issues to work through before it can be deployed.

In simple terms, it uses magnetic induction to charge any Splashpower-enabled device placed on or just above a Splashpower charging pad. There is no need for individual chargers or adapter cables - any Splashpower-compatible device will be charged once it gets close enough to the pad. For instance, the pad in your office could charge your laptop, mobile and PDA at the same time. The question is how to get the necessary components integrated into existing products and widely available.

Lily Cheng, CEO, and David Whitewood, Vice President of Business Development, described the three stages the company is planning. First will be after-market solutions: Splashpower will work with battery manufacturers to create battery packs for existing devices but incorporating Splashpower technology. It will work with the same companies or other consumer electronics manufacturers to develop the charging pads.

The next stage is to persuade as many handset and electronics manufacturers as possible to integrate Splashpower technology directly into their devices. Chend and Whitewood are talking to all of the major players and already have numerous trials in place. Once products are in the market, Splashpower then wants to expand the charging pads into locations such as airports, cafes and other public venues.

The business model is based primarily on technology licensing, generating royalties from the inclusion of Splashpower modules in devices and charging pads. However, Cheng told me she is also exploring opportunities such as turning the Splashpower pads into advertising billboards and even selling the larger charging pads under their own brand.

I suspect many of these ideas may not actually be commercially viable for Splashpower in the long-term and the company freely admits it is still in the planning phase for these opportunities. However, the underlying technology is most certainly causing a stir in the industry and will produce a strong technology licensing business.

Operators may well be a primary driver of adoption: firstly they make a great deal of money from selling after-market accessories, where the Splashpower solution could be very attractive, and secondly, because dead devices don't generate any revenues for them. If a handset runs out of battery power, it is no longer making calls or sending texts. It is therefore very much in the operators interest to ensure widespread availability of a universal charging solution.