A week after Canada-based ChargeSpot announced the first wireless...

A week after Canada-based ChargeSpot announced the first wireless charger that’s compatible with both Qi and PMA wireless charging standards, the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) asserted its independence with its Qi spec, providing a status report on Qi penetration in offices, restaurants, airports, hotels and public venues. A Qi spokeswoman told us there’s no correlation between WPC’s status report and the ChargeSpot release last week (CED Aug 22 p6). WPC said Tuesday that the installed base of Qi-enabled wireless chargers reaches 30 countries and more than 1 million locations. “WPC’s 200-strong member companies are fueling exciting innovation of the Qi standard, Qi products and Qi-based business services, which is driving the accelerated adoption of wireless charging by consumers and businesses around the globe,” said John Perzow, WPC vice president-market development, citing 65 models of Qi-enabled phones and “over 500 different products that use Qi.” WPC said companies including Facebook, Google, Texas Instruments and Verizon have installed Qi chargers in corporate meeting rooms; nine McDonald’s restaurants in Germany recently installed Qi chargers, as have several coffee shops in Toronto and a restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Kube Systems announced a deal with Marriott Hotels for a Qi charging system, WPC said. Verizon has deployed 800 Qi-enabled charging spots in U.S. airports, while Haier installed charging stations in the Beijing airport and DoCoMo installed Qi charging systems in airports and train stations in Japan, it said. The installed base of Qi chargers charge one device at a time, the spokeswoman said. The company has yet to release its specification for resonant charging that will enable multi-device charging, she said.