iVolta Cuts the Charging Wire

The ability charge our gadgets wirelessly has been available for some time thanks to WildCharge. You might remember my post on WildCharge last year, but in case you missed it, WildCharge is a charging pad that will charge up to five gizmos as long as they each have a WildCharge adapter attached. The adapter is what draws power wirelessly from the charging pad, which means you don't need a power strip to charge several gadgets at once.

What you will need is the special adapter to be compatible with your particular cell phone or music player, which as of this post is likely not possible since WildCharge adapters are only available for the Motorola RAZR and the 2G iPod nano. Charging all your gadgets wirelessly sounds like a great solution for gadget hounds, but will they be willing to pay the price? A WildChage bundle that includes the charging pad and adapter retails for $90, while each additional adapter sells for $35. Personally I think this is a great idea, but a little too expensive for me.

Luckily, I found a nice alternative today at Macworld called iVolta. This charging pad does exactly what Wild Charge does, yet it will be cheaper according to Jae Y. Koh, iVolta's CEO, who tells me his product will retail for $25 for a pad, and $15 for each additional adapter.

As you can see from the snapshot I took of the station, the adapters plug in to the bottom of the gizmo to draw power from the pad. Each adapter has three prongs on the back which is what makes contact with the magnetic charging pad and charges the gizmo. Curiously, the same three dots were also present on the back of the cell phone being charged in the picture above. Koh tells me these charging prongs can easily be integrated in cell phones or music players by manufacturers to completely eliminate the need for adapters in the future.

For what I understand, iVolta will be available sometime in 2008, although Mr. Koh failed to give me a specific date when I spoke to him. If you're interested in iVolta, I recommend you bookmark the site and keep a close eye on this new, cheaper alternative to wireless chargers.