Can Cell Phone Charging Stations Catch On?

I recently returned from a trip to India where the business desk at the hotel had a charging station for multiple cell phone manufacturers. The same was true at the airport. For many in India, cell phones have replaced landlines; as a result, downtime is a precious opportunity for the locals to charge their cell phones. But not having to carry your own cell phone charger when you’re traveling, or worry about converters, is a great convenience for anyone. And charging stations are becoming more common throughout Europe.

It’s an idea I can only hope will catch on here in America.

Chargebox provides a secure locker where you can charge your mobile devices. Imagine, you’re waiting between planes at an airport or having dinner at a restaurant and need to charge your iPod, Treo, BlackBerry, or cell phone. You locate a Chargebox, open the locker door, plug in your device, insert a few coins or send a text message to pay, then close and lock the door (which begins the charging process). Since it’s secured, you can safely walk away and do something else - a marked improvement over being tethered to a charging kiosk or wall outlet while your cell phone recharges out in the open.

Chargeboxes are proliferating in London, and they had a similar service at the multi-day Glastonbury music festival. The Chargebox model is a great alternative to the hassle of traditional cell phone chargers; plus, they’d be a wonderful amenity for restaurants to offer for free, if only to get the cell phones and BlackBerrys out of diners’ hands and locked away where they can’t disturb the rest of us.