Apple applies for U.S. patent on packaging that would have the capability to wirelessly power up the company's portable devices while still packaged on store shelves, allowing consumers to interact with the products before buying them

Graziela Medina Shepnick

LOS ANGELES , April 6, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) –

Apple Inc. has applied for a U.S. patent on packaging that can wirelessly power up the Cupertino, California-based electronics giant’s products while they are still packaged and displayed on store shelves, reported AppleInsider on April 5.

The proposal is to use packaging to receive wireless power that could be transferred to such products as iPhones and iPads to keep them operational for the user without having to increase the size of the devices to add such technology.

The application, which was first filed in December 2011, was made public this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It is entitled Active Electronic Media Packaging, AppleInsider reported.

Apple indicated that the active packaging systems would allow the company to display content and demonstrate features of devices to customers while the products are still packaged on store shelves.

The system would replace traditional labels and other advertising now displayed on product packaging, which Apple said in its filing is “extremely limited” in such features as allowing consumers to full see products or interact with them.

Apple’s concept proposes letting the products sell themselves by allowing them to work and be accessible to consumers while the devices are still in their original packaging, reported AppleInsider.

Having an external power source in the packaging also would allow Apple to upgrade the still-packaged products -- such as with software upgrades and firmware -- directly in stores without breaking the seals.

One way Apple proposes to power the packaged devices is by using a radio frequency power transmitter, eliminating the logistically difficult option of physically connecting a power supply to each package in a store.

The patent is credited to Michael Rosenblatt, a former new technologies manager at Apple. Seventy percent of his team’s 42 patent applications that were filed for the iPhone and iPod were used in new products over a two-year period, AppleInsider reported.

The primary source of this article is AppleInsider on April 5, 2012.

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