The fallacy of wireless power

They’re back — wireless chargers, that is. If you believe the hype in the product blogs and from some consulting firms, by 2016 you’ll have them nearly everywhere: hotel rooms, conference rooms, airports, lobbies, cafés, and on your desks and entryway tables. I’m not so sure.

Despite years of vendor attempts, the fairly old technology underneath wireless charging — inductive charging — has simply failed to take root in computing devices.