talking heads
Free Charging
When You Need It
If Ian Hobson has his way, your phone will never
run out of power again. Using an innovative
charging service he aims to deliver secure, free
charging in public places around the world.
By Ian Hobson, Managing Director, ChargeBox
Modern life relies heavily on smart
devices, in particular mobile phones.
With a pocket-sized device offering
quick and easy access to the Internet for
socialising, entertainment, good oldfashioned phone calls and more, it’s no
surprise we use them so much. We could
live without them, of course, but when
the power runs it can sometimes feel
like the world is about to end. And that’s
exactly where ChargeBox comes in…
with them more because battery life was
significantly reduced. But even with a
charger to hand it’s not always possible
to access a power outlet, and this is
where we come in. And since charger
connections have been reduced to just
two main types - Apple and Micro USB
rather than a unique charger for almost
every phone, this side of the service is
now much simpler than it was when we
first started.
1. How did you come up with the
idea for ChargeBox?
2. Why offer free charging?
It all started before the smartphone
revolution, when battery life was
fantastic. Because of this people often
went out without their charger, But when
the battery finally did run out, it was
difficult for people to charge their phone
again. We wanted to solve this problem.
Our initial success was with travellers
who needed to charge their phones
when in transit.
Once smartphones came along
people began carrying their charger
Adoption of a free charging service
parallels the way free WiFi proliferated
a number of years ago. Public WiFi has
been around for a while now, but in the
early days it was expensive to use and
the uptake was extremely limited. Now
it’s even more readily available, and most
importantly, it’s often free. The result, as
you’d expect, is increased use and we
think charging will follow the same path.
In the run up to the Olympics
Westfield Shopping Centre wanted to
begin providing free WiFi to visitors.
They also wanted to offer free phone
charging, and approached ChargeBox for
a solution that would work in this type of
location. A charging box that was secure
was essential to this, along with a simple
service anyone can use.
Our goal is to make as many charging
stations as possible around the globe
free. Making them free relies on sites
paying for the service themselves,
or using sponsorship in some form.
Retailers will often skin the units to keep
them in-line with their brand.
3. What are your target sectors?
We’ve had a huge success in shopping
centres. Simply because of the large
number of visitors both shopping, and
taking advantage of leisure facilities.
People often visit in groups, and when
even one of the individual’s phones run
out of power, it creates anxiety within the
group. The problem here for retailers is
that anxiety is correlated with reduced
spending. By providing a free charging
service, shoppers will inevitably have an
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