Wayne's Coffee, China, Apple And All Things Powerkiss
Powerkiss have not released much news this year. Apart from a feature in VentureBeat in June and a mention in connection with The Europas competition, we have not heard much about the company. Just this month, however, they've been pushing out news stories like crazy. First we hear that they've partnered with Wayne's Coffee in Sweden and Finland. The coffeeshop chain's guests can now (in limited locations) ask for a Powerkiss wireless ring from the counter, plug it into their phone, put onto the Powerkiss-enabled table and recharge it during their stay. Next we hear that Powerkiss is the official wire-free provider for Santa in China. That's right: Santa Clause foundation has been hosting showrooms in China to promote Santa and other Finnish exports and Powerkiss has been one of those products. Last but not least, Powerkiss' wireless charger has been officially approved as an Apple accessory. Charging an iPhone/iPod next to you soon! Apart from all the glitz, the case of Powerkiss poses some interesting questions.
On the plus side, Powerkiss have a cool product with a sexy name that solves an annoying problem. The company has formed partnerships with Finnish furniture providers, local airport and now coffee shops. Besides, Powerkiss has been creating a lot of vibe around the product: from winning an elevator pitch back in 2007 to their founder, Maija Itkonen, being nomintated as this year's Innovator by Microsoft.
The start-up was founded in 2008 and got the initial public and angel funding at the time. However, nothing has been heard since about their financial situation. Given that it's been a while since the last financial round, we can only speculate that Powerkiss might be looking for more investments soon. How the commercialization of the product has been going is also unknown. It is also not clear whether having to negotiate with every new partner is enabling or preventing the start-up's scalability. All this brings out a question: how long is it ok for a start-up to develop a product without bringing in significant revenue or signing big international parternship deals?
Powerkiss is selling a unique physical product, which should be its advantage since people are more prepared to spend money on actual products, rather than online services. Why then do businesses or people not buy into Powerkiss or if they do, why don't we hear about that? If Powerkiss have been hiding juicy facts for some unknown reason, it's about time they tell the world about it. If there are no juicy facts for the moment, perhaps the question of development vs. revenue should be raised?
I quite like Powerkiss as a concept - it's crisply conceived, addressing an easily understood need, mass potential is there.
Two difficulties though; needs a partner in furniture, and the last time I tried, the devices heat up quite a bit. Perhaps they've fixed that by now.