One of the larger barriers to adopting new technology is the relatively high price tag pitted against the uncertainty of whether or not that technology will become widespread enough to spawn future devices. What’s the sense in dropping $100 on an induction charger for your iPhone if there’s a possibility you’ll switch to a different phone in the future?Case-mate makes the plunge a bit less frightening by basing its “Hug” system upon an open wireless charging standard, the Wireless Power Consortium’s eCoupled technology (the same technology used in Palm’s “Touchstone” chargers for the Pre and Pixi lines). This theoretically means that you’d be able to charge your phone on any wireless charging surface based on the same standard—Case-mate offers a bedside table, Starbuck’s coffee table, and airplanes as examples. We’ll have to see how this eventually plays out in real life, but you get the idea.It also means that you’ll be able to use the included charging pad to juice up any other devices that use the same standard—a different model phone with an eCoupled-enabled case, for instance. So while $100 may seem a bit steep, you’re investing in what the WPC and Case-mate hopes becomes a widespread standard. You may have to buy different cases and/or battery covers for different devices in the future, but that charging pad should be the last one you ever need to purchase (in theory).
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