Sure, free Wi-Fi is nice, but it’s useless if your phone’s battery dies. This is where uBeam comes in, and this week the company received some great press on its announcement of a working prototype that will be built for consumers.
In the simplest terms, uBeam is a wireless charging system. It charges your phone via ultrasound, which is converted from electricity through a charging station. The charging station is thin (no larger than five millimeters thick) and can be attached to a wall. Yes, your venue could become one large phone charger.
“This is the only wireless power system that allows you to be on your phone and moving around a room freely while you’re device is charging,” uBeam CEO and Founder Meredith Perry told The New York Times. “It allows for a Wi-Fi-like experience of charging; with everything else you have to be in close range of a transmitter.”
The goal is to have uBeam available to consumers within the next two years with two different charging stations—one for small spaces, such as homes and offices, and the other for larger venues, such as stadiums, conference centers, and music halls.
“We’re going to sell directly to consumers, and we’ll sell them to restaurant chains and hotels—we are going to saturate the market with uBeam transmitters,” Perry said in the Times article. “In addition to your local coffee shop saying it has free Wi-Fi, it will also say it has free uBeam.”
