Please tell me this does not mean what I think it means.
> it isn’t just about eliminating power cables, but about enabling phones and tablets to communicate with new devices and using personal systems in new surroundings.
Call me a pessimistic neo-luddite, but why in God's green earth does a battery charging standard need to include discovery and communication with new devices in new surroundings? I understand that there needs to be some degree of communication between charger and device to regulate the juice, but the article makes it sound like there is much more communication going on here. This sounds to me like the beginnings of the dreadful USB/CD-ROM autoplay, but for wireless chargers instead.
It seems like the Qi supporters are hell-bent on providing all the nasties out there (both governmental and criminal, but I repeat myself) with more vectors to attack the one device that has become the master key to my digital life.
I sincerely hope I am wrong and merely ignorant and this new Qi standard will dawn upon the world of consumer electronics like Venus from her sea-shell; perfect, sublime, well designed, and above all secure. (pffffffttt!)
A pessimist, however, is seldom disappointed.