Australian hotels, airports and other venues could use wireless phone chargers to enable Internet of Things applications, according to London-based company Chargifi.

The company, which lists Intel Capital and HPE among its investors, is bringing its cloud-based wireless chargers and management platform to the Asia Pacific market via distributor Ingram Micro. It has also bolstered its local presence with the appointment of ex-Ruckus employee Carl Jeffreys as Asia Pacific sales director.

Chargifi’s sales pitch is that wireless chargers provide businesses with more than a handy way for their customers to charge their phones.

Businesses can use Chargifi’s cloud analytics platform to see customer dwell time and which chargers are used most often.

And Chargifi’s platform connects to third-party videoconferencing, lighting, POS, CRM and analytics products from the likes of Aruba, Zoom, LIFX, WEMO and purple.                          

Chargifi states that businesses could connect its chargers to smart lighting systems, so that when a guest places their phone on a charger it triggers their preferred light setting. Or they could connect it to a third party application to let others know when a meeting room is in use.

Chargifi is also pushing the use of its chargers as iBeacons, which could help people “find what they need in large venues such as stadiums, hotels and workplaces.”

The company lists Marriot, Ritz Carlton and MGM Resort as customers. In Australia, its chargers are located in The Sporting Globe Bar, Sydney Airport and Rouse Hill Town Centre shopping centre.

To support commercial-scale rollouts, Chargifi works with partners to provide installation and remote management.

Ingram Micro is upbeat about the opportunity wireless charging provides the IT channel. Demand for wireless power and IoT in the APAC enterprise and hospitality sectors is “soaring", claims Ingram Micro APAC executive vice president and group president, Diego Utge.

It's not the first to push wireless charging to Australian businesses. Last year, Aircharge announced that property company Hawaiian was putting its wireless chargers into some Australian shopping centres.