We overlooked it in yesterday’s gluttony of new Apple products, but Cupertino’s quietest new product might, in many ways, be its most interesting: a battery charger.
The battery charger costs $29.99, and is remarkably green friendly: it has the lowest vampire rating in its class, intelligently shutting off power when batteries are full, and the six batteries that ship with the device itself are specced to last ten years.
It’s a strangely practical and unflashy device for Apple to release, even though Apple’s trademark design elements are infused into the device to the core. It makes sense that Apple would release something like this, though, as more and more of its peripherals go wireless.
What may be most interesting to me about the charger, though, is that it’s the first Apple product in recent memory that was launched to everyone’s complete surprise. No one seems to have had the slightest inkling that Apple was working on this.
I’ve got to admit: even though my job is to follow rumors and sift through patent filings, it’s just really nice to be surprised. That, in and of itself, is enough to lay down $30.
