News

Recharging kiosk empowers mobile gadget users

January 30, 2003

LONDON -- Brits are getting a charge out of a new kiosk developed by startup Charge Me. The company's first product, the CM1 Recharge Kiosk, features 12 padded bays that customers can use to receive a power boost for their PDAs.

"It's quite simple. Public power charging has never properly been addressed with a product," the company's director, Janko Mrsic-Flogel, told NewsFactor.com. "The Charge Me CM1 Kiosk allows travelers and passersby to recharge their mobile devices when they are low on power or have run out of juice entirely."

In public transportation hubs and public gathering places, the CM1 will be a coin- or bill-operated vending machine that will dispense power boosts in 5- or 10-minute increments. In UK trials, a British pound (about U.S. $1.65) bought a 10-minute charge.

The CM1 will also be deployed in a corporate or retail setting, according to the report. Mrsic-Flogel said the company plans to deploy the kiosks nationwide later this year.