SCOTTSDALE: Approximately 44% of survey respondents found current mobile charging solutions are an annoyance, according to In-Stat (www.in-stat.com).  Additionally, up to 40% are willing to pay $50 more for a wireless charging solution.  As a result of this and other factors, In-Stat projects the market for wireless charging systems will reach $4.3 billion in total market revenue by 2014.

While there are significant drivers that will help fuel growth of wireless charging systems, there are also barriers to growth.  One of those is the existence of several competing technologies which threatens to fragment the industry and foster incompatibility.   Widespread adoption of wireless charging technology will be difficult without standardization since users do not want to carry multiple chargers, wired or wireless, to plug in their phones while traveling.

“Few device vendors have the power to drive their own standards and build their own ecosystem,” says Jim McGregor, Chief Technology Strategist.  “Sony, Apple, Qualcomm, and Samsung are perhaps the only players with the strength, breadth of product line, and customer loyalty to create an environment capable of supporting a proprietary wireless charging technology.”

Recent Research by In-Stat found the following:

* 28.3% of survey respondents indicated lack of standards as the most annoying issue in charging mobile devices.

* Early adopters of wireless charging will be users of niche devices.

* As with other technologies, prices are expected to degrade rapidly to about half of current pricing by 2014.

* Tightly coupled inductive charging systems are expected to be the early market leader.

* Of the integrated charging solutions, over two thirds are expected to be in cars.