Chip Chick
PowerKiss is the name behind a series of wireless charging stations popping up in airports, cafes, and other public places, almost exclusively in Europe (for now). It originated in Finland, and, pursuant to Beyoncé’s words of wisdom, strongly suggests that those who like their smartphones put a ring on them.
Those rings are made for three kinds of charging ports – 32-pin, micro USB, and whatever Nokia uses – and are based on the Qi wireless charging protocol. Once you have one of those rings on your phone, you can set it down wherever you see a PowerKiss heart symbol. These hearts are actually charging stations that public places can install directly into tables, which run off AC power. PowerKiss is able to guide buyers through these installations to make them pretty seamless – without the heart symbol, you might not even realize something is there.
That bit about Qi is important – if you have a phone or a case that has built-in Qi wireless charging functionality, you don’t even need one of these PowerKiss rings – just set your phone on the heart symbol, and that’s it.
If you’re interested in having this wireless charging lovefest all to yourself, there’s a PowerTray available, which comes with three rings – one 32-pin, one micro USB, and one Nokia. That costs €327, or about $431. The rings themselves cost about €20 each, which comes out to roughly $26. If you’re interested in installing a charging station in one of your tables (say, if you’re a small business owner), you can get the easy integrated or pro integrated Heart, both of which cost €235, or about $310. You’ll have to do the installation work yourself, but PowerKiss provides a guide. If you want to find public places with PowerKiss charging stations, you can check out their iOS app or this map.
