If you’ve ever been desperate and had to plunk yourself down on floor of an airport to plug in a dying laptop or cellphone (once you’ve found the blessed outlet, of course), you’ll be happy to hear that Samsung Mobile is stepping where most domestic airports have failed.
Unveiled last summer, these mobile phone charging stations, in 10 domestic departure terminals, allow tech-addled travelers to charge all manner of personal electronic devices. Whew. Thank you.
But here is what is really cool. Look at the picture I snapped in at the San Francisco International Airport last July. Because the kiosks have four outlets per station, a handy, bar-height table, and oh, places to sit, there is more going on here than the flow of electrically charged particles. People are interacting. And if only two people are talking in this photo, let me tell you, by the time I boarded my flight for Los Angeles, all four of those folks, none of whom were travelling together, were pretty darn chummy.
Samsung’s mobile charging stations help put the mobile phone maker’s brand in front of 395 million pairs of eyes annually, which is valuable in terms of pure ROI of marketing dollars. But Samsung goes a step further. Not only do they solve a problem, they create an opportunity to connect with others. And isn’t that what technology is really all about anyway? Way to go, Samsung!
