Energous Says Long-Awaited PSAP Device Is Available on Amazon

Two days before the next Energous earnings call -- where it likely would have faced more investor questions about the Delight personal sound amplification product (PSAP) that hadn't materialized before its May earnings call -- Energous trumpeted the arrival of such a product Tuesday on Amazon for $349. The Delight Oasis-RC PSAP is the first hearable sold in the U.S. with Energous’ WattUp wireless charging technology. The product hadn't yet drawn any reviews when we checked Tuesday and shipping date was given as Aug. 14-22. Energous first said it planned to develop reference designs for embedded WattUp charging capabilities in SK Telesys' products for the Asian and global markets in 2014. In December, Energous CEO Steve Rizzone gave Q1 as the arrival time for the Delight PSAP, co-designed with the Korean communications equipment company (see 1812270001). Rizzone acknowledged then multiple delays for the product, maintaining the “customer funnel is robust” for CE products in “growing vertical markets.” In a statement Tuesday, Delight CEO Jae Ho Him said the U.S. is a key market for the Oasis. It wasn’t clear if Korea regulators had approved Energous’ RF-based charging technology, which received FCC certification for sale in the U.S., but an Energous spokesperson emailed that the Oasis-RC is shipping in the U.S. only at this time. Delight has not submitted the product for regulatory approval in Korea yet: "We expect the product will be available in other countries outside of just the U.S. in the future, however," she said. On Energous’ May Q1 earnings call, Rizzone said “the lack of a well-defined path to regulatory approval” in China, Japan and Korea had “a delaying effect on product launch decisions and timing that we did not anticipate.” Rizzone said having a product with WattUp technology launch on Amazon was “a significant step forward” in Energous’ wireless charging mission. Dooroo Lim, SK Telesys manager, called Oasis a “next generation product that we believe solves the major pain point hearing aid and PSAP users have historically experienced, which is frequent battery replacement.” The news release announcing Oasis-RC referred to the product having versions for the right and left ears. Only the right ear version was available Tuesday.