Intentions behind joining the WPC still unclear at this point
The Wireless Power Consortium, the collective of companies behind the Qi wireless charging standard, have added Qualcomm as its latest member. The WPC has over 170 companies backing the standard, but Qualcomm joining the group is most interesting as it was a founding member of the A4WP (Alliance for Wireless Power) — a competing wireless charging standard with just over 60 members.
Being that Qualcomm is heavily involved in the A4WP and is now a member of the WPC, hopes are high that there may be some collaboration between the two groups. There is a long history of competition between the two, and up until this point Qi seems to have grabbed more market share and mind share in the public space. Big names like HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Sony and now Qualcomm are all members — the WPC also announced today that Verizon Wireless has signed on.
It isn’t immediately clear at this point what Qualcomm’s intentions are for joining the WPC, but we have to hope that it can lead to some kind of synergies in the wireless charging space. Qi is currently fighting an uphill battle of having many different technological hurdles to overcome to be a household name in wireless charging for devices.
Source: Wireless Power Consortium; Via: Engadget