iPhone users can wirelessly recharge at Starbucks via 100K Duracell Powermats coming to coffee chain

Posted:
in iPhone edited June 2014
Mega coffee chain Starbucks on Thursday announced a new partnership with Duracell that will see wireless charging stations based on the latter's Powermat technology rolled out to every Starbucks and Teavana location in the U.S. over the next two years.




Starbucks will equip its San Francisco locations with Powermat stations this year, expanding to "additional major markets" and Teavana outlets in 2015. The company did not offer a time frame to complete the national rollout, but did say that pilots in Europe and Asia would begin later this year.

The coffee chain plans to utilize some 100,000 Powermats at its approximately 7,500 locations once the rollout is finished.

iPhone owners can take advantage of the stations by ensconcing their handset in one of Duracell's charging cases. A snap-on case will set users back $34.49, while a model that includes a backup battery can currently be had for $73.38

"We were pleased with the customer response to the pilot tests, and we're now expanding this offering nationally to provide our customers a quality and reliable experience as they use our stores as their respite, their office away from home or as a gathering place with their friends and family," Starbucks executive Adam Brotman said in a release.

The move represents perhaps the largest-ever rollout of wireless charging stations, though the choice of technologies is somewhat odd. Very few devices support Powermat, with most manufacturers siding instead with the competing Qi standard for wireless power solutions.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 80
    It's gonna suck it apples some other kind of wireless charging and if this can only be done with a case , a 2 year roll out seems like a long time
  • Reply 2 of 80
    ifij775ifij775 Posts: 470member
    I'm hoping iphone 6 has integrated wireless charging
  • Reply 3 of 80
    wubbuswubbus Posts: 70member

    Would seem to make more sense to have unobtrusive 30-pin and Lightning connectors at each seat/table, so all iPhone users could take advantage, not just the handful that own a Duracell case???

     

    Hard to see many iPhone users swayed towards a Duracall case just because they can now wirelessly charge at a Starbucks.

  • Reply 4 of 80
    curtis hannahcurtis hannah Posts: 1,833member
    ifij775 wrote: »
    I'm hoping iphone 6 has integrated wireless charging
    Don't get your hopes up, iPhone 5 and lighting hinted you probably got another 8 years till such a standard is usefull(going to Starbucks with the new cases isn't really usefull.
  • Reply 5 of 80
    richard getzrichard getz Posts: 1,142member

    This is the strongest indication the iPhone 6 will have wireless charging. 

  • Reply 6 of 80
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Stupid idea in my opinion. Why not power up a lot of USB jacks and AC outlets at all the seating locations? It would cost less, charge faster and not require a bulky expensive wireless charging case. Oh, and why not serve some higher quality coffee while you are at it?image

  • Reply 7 of 80
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member
    Would rather see Apple offer wireless charging. I've yet to go that route because I've heard too many "not supported" issues. If it isn't Apple, it isn't on my phone. Hate to sound hipster, but spend this much on a phone and accessories and I expect them to work.
  • Reply 8 of 80
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member

    I anticipate a lot of empty Powermats sitting unused.

  • Reply 9 of 80
    richard getzrichard getz Posts: 1,142member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    Stupid idea in my opinion. Why not power up a lot of USB jacks and AC outlets at all the seating locations? It would cost less, charge faster and not require a bulky expensive wireless charging case. Oh, and why not serve some higher quality coffee while you are at it?image


     

    That would work great for everyone actually. 

     

    Where in SoCal? 

  • Reply 10 of 80
    waterrocketswaterrockets Posts: 1,231member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    Stupid idea in my opinion. Why not power up a lot of USB jacks and AC outlets at all the seating locations? It would cost less, charge faster and not require a bulky expensive wireless charging case.


     

    yep

  • Reply 11 of 80
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Richard Getz View Post

     
    Where in SoCal? 


    I have a house in Irvine, but I don't live there full time. I split my time about 50/50 between US and Panama and schedule it to get the best weather in each location. So right now I'm in the states while it is poring rain in Central America.

  • Reply 12 of 80
    kellya74ukellya74u Posts: 171member

    I understand the 'service' Starbucks is trying to provide, but I believe its misguided based on past practice. Many of us in the business community use to go to Starbucks on a break, 3-4 together, to have a coffee & decompress for a few minutes. However, due to all the outlets, many, mostly students, were camped there for hours & hours, one or 2 people taking up an entire table for 4. No space available for even one person to sit to wolf down an oatmeal or sandwich,  so many & most of us started going else ware.

     

    If I ran the shop, this would be my policies:

     

    No outlets. Show up with a charged laptop, if your battery dies, haste la vista, baby. A Mac boasts 8-12hr battery life. Hundreds of customers could have sat at that table in the course of a day.

     

    Wifi-Your receipt would have a unique wifi code for 30-60 minute access. Need more time, gonna be there awhile, make another purchase, get a new code. A $1.50 cup of coffee, 'entitling' you sit there & tie up a table is selfish & doesn't contribute to the greater good, no matter how important you are, or how great you will become, completing your work at that sitting, to the immediate detriment of others.

     

    The new, proposed charging station....20 minutes max. The system should be able to detect the particular phone, & after the 20 minutes, it can't be recharged unless 3 hours has elapsed.

     

    The above policies would eliminate the need for employees to have to confront the often loud & entitled person who would often otherwise protest being asked to leave because they were already there 6hrs, getting free refills.  "That's it, you've lost me as a customer." Really!

  • Reply 13 of 80
    mbsmdmbsmd Posts: 34member

    I'm pretty certain this won't cost Starbucks a dime (other than electricity bills). Duracell is almost certainly giving them the pads for free to compete with the Qi standard which a ton of Android devices already support.

     

    If the only way to use this is to slap a case on the phone, unless Starbucks also sells the cases (which they vey well might), there's going to be a lot of empty terminals.

     

    Are they going to sell cases for the top-selling Android devices as well?

  • Reply 14 of 80
    macinthe408macinthe408 Posts: 1,050member
    Rumor is iPhone 7 will have wireless charging.
  • Reply 15 of 80
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kellya74u View Post

     

    No outlets. Show up with a charged laptop, if your battery dies, haste la vista, baby. A Mac boasts 8-12hr battery life. Hundreds of customers could have sat at that table in the course of a day.


    Sort of depends on the location. If you are near campus, totally, but near the airport, or other transportation center, or near tourist destinations as well, outlets would be nice to have.

     

    I have a friend who owns some high end coffee restaurants and he doesn't have outlets or even wi-fi. He is trying to create a more social environment, encouraging people to engage in conversation, so in that regard, he doesn't really care how long people stay. The longer the better for his business model.

  • Reply 16 of 80
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    mbsmd wrote: »
    I'm pretty certain this won't cost Starbucks a dime (other than electricity bills). Duracell is almost certainly giving them the pads for free to compete with the Qi standard which a ton of Android devices already support.

    If the only way to use this is to slap a case on the phone, unless Starbucks also sells the cases (which they vey well might), there's going to be a lot of empty terminals.

    Are they going to sell cases for the top-selling Android devices as well?

    That sounds like a reasonable hypothesis to me. Make the profit on the customers with cash to burn.

    Do they make cases for other brands or do any other brands work with these mats?
  • Reply 17 of 80
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    wubbus wrote: »
    Would seem to make more sense to have unobtrusive 30-pin and Lightning connectors at each seat/table, so all iPhone users could take advantage, not just the handful that own a Duracell case???

    But then they have the safety issue of cables all around, plus how do they secure them so that someone can't swipe it. What about pissing off folks that use non iPhones. They will get nagged at to have connectors for those also. And if they are secured that means having to have tons of outlets wired up for all of it. And so on
    Hard to see many iPhone users swayed towards a Duracall case just because they can now wirelessly charge at a Starbucks.
    You can bet that Duracell is paying for part of the set up costs on this. Hoping it will help to get folks onto their backup battery case and not Mophie, plus if they don't already they will release a home use mat real soon and will be hoping that folks will buy it also.
  • Reply 18 of 80
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    mstone wrote: »
    I have a friend who owns some high end coffee restaurants and he doesn't have outlets or even wi-fi. He is trying to create a more social environment, encouraging people to engage in conversation, so in that regard, he doesn't really care how long people stay. The longer the better for his business model.

    I'm at Starbucks right now and I'm socializing with you. ;)
  • Reply 19 of 80
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Don't get your hopes up, iPhone 5 and lighting hinted you probably got another 8 years till such a standard is usefull(going to Starbucks with the new cases isn't really usefull.

    I could see Apple supporting both wired and wireless charging tech in upcoming devices. There's talk of patents for solar charging as well. Eventually all three, even perhaps some kind of kinetic charging could be in Apple devices. Might be a killer feature to have a variety of charging methods.
  • Reply 20 of 80
    phone-ui-guyphone-ui-guy Posts: 1,019member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wubbus View Post

     

    Would seem to make more sense to have unobtrusive 30-pin and Lightning connectors at each seat/table, so all iPhone users could take advantage, not just the handful that own a Duracell case???

     

    Hard to see many iPhone users swayed towards a Duracall case just because they can now wirelessly charge at a Starbucks.


     

    Even better to have USB power outlets to charge any type of device. Bringing your own cable isn't that bad as there are quite a few compact options like keychain and credit card type adaptors. I see two potential issues with this.

     

    First, I want to hold and use my phone when drinking coffee at Starbucks and I suspect others do too.

     

    Second, this will cause some people to walk off and forget their phones. 

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