Starbucks coffee shops in the United Kingdom may get wireless charging ‘powermats’ by 2015, as Starbucks in the United States starts its rollout of the technology today.
The wireless charging devices, made by Duracell, will be set up in Starbucks in the San Francisco Bay area initially, but the companies will expand Powermat to additional major markets in 2015. Initial pilots in Europe and Asia are expected within the year.
Adam Brotman, digital boss at Starbucks, said: "The ‘powermat spots’ are dedicated areas where a device can be placed to charge wirelessly, and compatible devices amongst the obvious Android and Apple flagships will be devices made by AT&T, BlackBerry, HTC, Huawei, LG, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, and ZTE.
Ran Poliakine, CEO of Powermat Technologies, said: "The two-pronged power-plug dates back to the era of the horse drawn carriage, so that today’s announcement marks the first meaningful upgrade to the way we access power in well over a century.
"Powermat Spots in Starbucks are the result of almost a decade of scientific research spanning material sciences, magnetic induction and mesh networking."
Starbucks originally introduced Wi-Fi into its stores in 2001, when 95% of devices didn’t support the technology.
Content from our partners
