The Power Matters Alliance, which is committed to developing an open standard for smart wireless power, has announced that HTC, LG and Samsung have joined as members. All three manufacturers have also used the rival Qi wireless charging technology in their devices.
PMA was founded last year by Powermat Technologies and Procter & Gamble, with other board members now including AT&T, Duracell, Starbucks and the US Government’s Energy Star and Federal Communications Commission. The company’s honorary chairman is Vint Cerf of Google.
Over 1,500 PMA-compatible charging spots are currently available in the USA across Starbucks coffee shops, airports and entertainment venues. European wireless charging specialist PowerKiss is also using the PMA system in over 1,000 locations across airports and railway stations.
Jeff Howard, PMA board member and Vice President for Mobile Devices and Accessories at AT&T, said “We want to welcome HTC, LG and Samsung to the PMA. AT&T fully supports the concept of an industry standard for wireless power. In an effort to move toward making this a reality for consumers worldwide and in direct support for the public ecosystem roll out led by Powermat, we have asked our device suppliers to integrate PMA-certified wireless charging solutions by 2014. In the meantime, we are working with them to deploy PMA-certified handsets and accessories as quickly as possible.”