Starbucks offers wireless phone chargers
Powermat CEO Ran Poliakine discusses the Duracell Powermat wireless cell phone chargers available at Starbucks.

Coffee shops are already a go-to star for a quick re-charge if you need some coffee. Now customers at the world's biggest coffee chain will be able to power up their phones as well as themselves. Starbuck is rolling out wireless charging spots accross the U.S in its stores, pilots in Europe and Asia are also expected within the year. The coffee chain is teaming up with Duracell, Powermat, to install the wire-free chargers and the CEO of Powermat Ran Poliakine joins me here in Newyork. Thank you very much for being with us today.
This is interesting, because when I first saw this, I though, oh, you know, charging mat, charging stations, I know about that, someone is always pitching me one for my house, for all my gadgets and my stuff. This is a little bit different though, because you know, targeting public places for the first time. What do you think about the potential is here?
Well, I think the problem we are trying to solve is very simple, when you are out and about in the city, you are running out of your battery, you are getting into a Starbuck, you place your phone on the counter and you get a charge while you are having your coffee, this is a very intuitive kind of service, we think that has a lot of potential.
So is this what we are looking at now? Is this we are looking at the pictures? So it looks like you, just sort of, put it on the counter, so it doesn't look like any, sort of, special ledge that you have, because I can see that being a mere competition for that one sort of, you know, a little pad out there, just, is that actually, sort of, just built into the counter, is that right?
Exactly, so that... This technology is fully integrated to the furniture, so wherever you sit, you simply place your phone the same way you do today like wifi. You expect your email to be downloaded and now you expect your phone to be charged,
And that sort of thing, was it a tougher for Starbucks? Because, I, sort of, we take so much of this for granted. I didn't realize that, when Starbuck introduced wifi, it was almost, it was a very novel idea to be able to get that at public places. Now, it is in almost every coffee, every store you go into, accepted as a common policy. Was it hard for them when you were pitching this idea to team up with them and to get them to say yes?
I think the idea is very compelling, I mean, wifi indeed, started to appear in public places, so the analogy between wifi and charging phone is very simple to understand. The process is a long process and you want to make sure the consumer's excitment is being generated that the technology is well integrated to the store's experience, so overall it is a challenge, but it is not a hard pitch.
And is this only in a commercial outlet, is that your main focus or is this technoly that we would also expect to see in furniture that we buy for our home at some point?
I think that if you think about the Internet and everything and if you think about the services that are beyond just the mobile phone itself, you can expect power to be changing for ever, so you can expect it to be in your kitchen, places like your coffee maker, expect it works without cords and * . You can expect to see those technologies in airports, in hotels and offices, and this, to our mind, is the first step in a bigger solution of changing the way people are getting power to their devices.
And I was in a doctor's office yesterday where someone was scrambling over my laptop and moving a cord in order to plug in to recharge. So I was assuming that experiences, as pleasant as it was, will be a thing of the past. Fascinating, so thank you very much for coming in and the perfect week that we focus on the Israeli starups which is where you also got your start. Thank you very much, Ran.
Thank you.