Competition is typically viewed as a good thing for consumers but that's not always the case. Take the ongoing battle that's being waged between wireless standards bodies, for example. With no clear winner in sight, consumers are left sitting on the sidelines until it resolves itself as manufacturers are by and large unwilling to bet on a standard that isn't leading the pack.
Fortunately, that may happen sooner rather than later as two of the largest wireless charging bodies have decided to join forces.
The Power Matters Alliance (PMA) and the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) have decided that a merger is in the best interest of all parties involved.
The news shouldn't come as too big of a surprise for anyone that's been keeping tabs on the wireless charging industry as of late. That's because last February, the two camps announced plans to start working together. While not a merger at that time, the two agreed to ensure that their chargers would work with one another by adopting each other's technologies.
The PMA's standard is based on inductive charging while the A4WP has backed magnetic resonance charging. Interestingly enough, the two parties won't be deciding on one standard over the other and will instead continue to offer up both solutions.
As A4WP president and board chair Kamil Grajski notes, other wireless standards like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi can coexist peacefully and the A4WP PMA merger is in the same spirit: enable the market to apply technologies to their best use cases.
The combined organization will be named later this year.