Ever since the two Steves — Jobs and Wozniack — created Apple Computers, they’ve been in the ‘disruptive technology’ game, introducing personal computers that turned the world on its ear. Then came the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, all revolutionary mobile devices built around Apple’s legendary user-friendly interface. But the one thing that they also shared in common was their need to plug into the grid to recharge their batteries.
That may be about to change, it’s being rumored. Apple has won several patents recently on charging their i-devices using solar energy, something Samsung has already done with at least four of their products. The speculation is that the company will soon introduce solar-powered products that, at a minimum, extend the operating life of the battery, or better yet, will never need to be plugged in; just put your iPhone in a sunny place and let free photons do the recharging. It’s being suggested by Katie Fehrenbacher that this could “revolutionize solar” because Apple builds, through its Asian contractor, tens of millions of mobile devices every year and that kind of clout will drive down the price of PV. Maybe. But our inclination is that projects like Roadrunner (page 8) will do that too. The real Apple solar ‘revolution’ will be the introduction of solar electricity to those millions of Apple customers, putting PV technology in their hands, perhaps for the very first time. That could be solar power’s ‘tipping point.’
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