Marco Bertozzi: 22.12.09
Out Christmas shopping at the weekend I stood in John Lewis staring at The Powermat (www.powermat.com), I knew I would, I knew at some point I would come face to face with The Powermat and grapple with my desire to buy the latest gadget versus the voice of reason inside me saying, just plug it in the wall, its a rip off!

If you are not sure what powermat is about, check the video out below:

Basically you have a mat, you plug that in the wall. You then buy a cover for you iphone / blackberry / DS, whatever, you put your cover on and just plonk down on the mat and it wirelessly charges your device. If they dont make a back for your device you can plug it into a cube thing and put that on the mat, or for apple products they have a cradle that fits any ipod and you put that on the mat…CHRIST, JUST PLUG IT IN THE WALL. The upside is that it charges multiple devices, is that worth the money?

Powermat have used Facebook a lot and it does make me laugh as everyone is saying the same, why is this easier than plugging into a socket. Oh I did not mention the price..£70 for the mat and then about £30 for each individual case that goes on your device! You can see then why I was stood there in John Lewis staring at it, I wanted it, I really did, but you cannot justify it, this is a proper gimmick for now, it has no value in its current format. £100-£200 just to charge your device? As one Facebooker said..’Its a F******’ charger!

I know I will come face to face with it again and again I will have to decide whether i should buy one, normally I give in to these things but I dont think I will this time until the price is a third of what it is now. Lets not forget though that this technology will soon be built into the phones and laptops themselves so you wont need to waste money on a receiving device, thats when it gets interesting. Imagine if your phone has the technology built in and your car is the charger, just pop the phone down on the dash and you are charging, your desk, your coffee table? Bring that on, for now its a waste of cash.