Apple Watch Misnomer: Wireless Charging

The Apple Watch is pretty cool, guys. Forget the variety of form factors, enhanced fitness monitor capabilities, customizable bands, digital crown control, and integrated Apple Pay. It has wireless charging. Kind of.

The grand debutante ball for Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus also featured the company's entrance into the smartwatch market with great results. The Cult of Apple will likely be the kick in the pants (wrist?) that the smartwatch market needs to take off, but this device's charging method does little to advance the wireless charging standards battle. In fact, Apple's live event Tuesday placed wireless charging as an afterthought.

I’ve written before about the need for a major player to drive the ubiquity of wireless charging in the mobile sphere. Following weeks of speculation, I thought Apple would surely announce phones or a wearable capable of magnetic resonance charging -- my bet for the winner among the coil-based charging methods -- and I was sorely disappointed. Not only were the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus completely devoid of wireless charging, but Apple chose the less mobile close-coupled magnetic inductive charger for its watch. Why Apple, why?

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