The 100 members of the Wireless Power Consortium are competing in all parts of the value chain, from IC design to providing certification services.

Competition between the members is driving investments in R&D. To survive you have to innovate.

The eco system build around the Qi specification drives innovation in 3 ways:

1. Guaranteed interoperability makes it possible to introduce new types of wireless chargers without risk. Customers will understand that is works when the product has the Qi logo.
2. The Qi specification allows for product differentiation. Designers of wireless chargers have freedom to do whatever their application needs, as long as charger is compatible with all Qi receivers.
3. The consortium agreement between the members of the Wireless Power Consortium makes sure that all members have access to each others essential patents.

Read more about it in yesterday's presentation at the wireless power summit.

Power transfer with ultrasound. Now that is an original idea!

Meredith Perry, a 22 year old enterpreneur, has managed to harness ultrasound to transfer power. NPR has an article about her and her uBeam product.

Magnetic induction, microwaves, light, and infrared lasers have been tried and used extensively, but ultrasound is really new. My compliments!

Meredith is not the only youing entrepreneur in wireless power. Robin Nagelmaeker (21) is co-founder of GetPowerpad, with Tom Canters (26).

For a primer on the state of the art in wireless power technology I recommend to read Brad Molen’s blog on Engadget.

By the way, it is quite possible to power a Qi receiver through an inch of granite table top. Watch this video where Dave Baarman demos  a prototype wireless Qi charger!

This is an exciting time in wireless charging. Who can tell what new Qi products and features will be coming next? As we’re already beginning to see, the possibilities are limitless.

On 11 May I saw the latest designs for wireless battery chargers during a Qi demo for the press in Korea. What impressed me most was the increasing diversity of the transmitter designs.

I could see that a lot of effort is directed at achieving so-called "freedom of positioning". Freedom of positioning means that it is not necessary to position a mobile phone accurately on the charger. Just drop it anywhere on the surface of wireless charger and it works. The Qi specification already provides two charger designs with total freedom of positioning (a moving-coil solution and a coil-array), and we now see more designs demonstrated that deliver freedom of positioning.

A good interface standard gives product developers a lot of freedom to innovate and differentiate their product. Qi is no exception to this rule. The demos in Korea make it obvious that innovation and differentiation is possible and happening fast.

Why is it now suddenly going so fast?

I believe we have reached ideal conditions for innovation:

1. The market for Qi products is growing. You can see that in stream of announcements for phones with integrated Qi receiver. Here ist the latest one: http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20110517/191823/
2. The risk is getting lower.  The cost of bringing an innovative wireless charger to market is much reduced for Qi-chargers because manufacturers don't need to complement a Qi charger with compatible phones and sleeves. A new Qi charger can be combined with other companies' power-receivers. 
3. Competition between the manufacturers of Qi products is heating up. A superior product helps gain market share. And we all know how important that is in the early stage of a growth market.

I am looking forward to the next demo of new Qi products.