How Much Would You Pay to Plug In Your Gadgets?

When I first read this, I thought they were going to start adding charging to your monthly plan or something, I am happily surprised that this is all it is, and I think this would be a good idea.

knowing sony they will spend like 500 million on this, and it will be foiled by a paper clip.

Let me put this bluntly . . .

HELL NO! . . . I will say it again in case any Sony execs are PAYING ATTENTION . . .

H E L L N O O O !

You think people will pay for electricity when they don't even have to pay for wireless access? Something like this was probably the brainchild of some greedy MOFO!

If they do this, they might as well put a sign on their storefront that reads, "WARNING! . . . YOU WILL BE CHARGED JUST FOR STEPPING IN!"

Use for authentication, but to charge for plugging in ... HELL NO.

menoc, Why not?

When you go to a place like this, they might or might not offer free Wifi, provided you purchase one of their products. You are in fact doing only that, purchasing a product. You're not purchasing the rights to own that building, nor are your paying for electricity. Why should companies pay for you to charge your laptop? If you aren't smart enough to have a charged laptop when walking into somewhere, that's your problem. And if you sit there long enough for your laptop's battery to be fully used, why in the hell are you there that long? I'm sure the employee's wish you would leave, you sure as hell are done with your coffee..

Shakouhousha,

You are wrong. When you purchase a product at any particular store, you are already paying for a portion of the utilities incurred by that store - weather you use them or not. If that wasn't the case then no one would be in business. Profits from product sales pay for everything the store needs to stay afloat (including the employees). Sure, you could make the argument that plugging in draws more power which would raise the cost of electricity, but you know, again, if it's costing them more to provide for power, believe me , they are charging us more for their products already to cover their operating costs - profits pay for this.

AND menoc wins this one...

As he said H-E-double hockey sticks NOOOO... since Sony apparently doesn't care that much about consumers I guess I'll stop using their products... smh

Like menoc said, those costs just get added into the purchase price of the goods/service you're being sold. I don't need to pay for them separately and have more of my personal information 'out there.' I would totally NOT use this.

And BTW, the stores that offer WIFI for free do so because the cost of operating it per user is extremely small--so small its negligible. The same is pretty much true for people who use outlets and last time I checked there are never enough outlets for EVERYONE to charge up at once which means the many pay for the few and rotating ever-so-often keeps everyone happy.

If Sony wants to lose money by committing to a product it can't sell/service because consumers wont ACTUALLY pay for it... AND lose customers in the process, by my guess... I'm very disappointed! Haven't they learned their lesson watching consumers exercise their power recently? Think Bank of America card fees, etc...

Sony better re-think this one, and FAST!

I'd gladly pay $0.00, but not a penny more.

And Sony can kiss my shiney metal assparts.

I would never pay to plug in my laptop. I wonder how many people will actually pay to charge up their laptop. You already pay to charge it up at home, so why would you want to go somewhere else to pay more? Just get a better battery.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME! only Sony could think of something like this, alright PS3 out the window you go

i don't think most of the people commenting here actually read the article.

umm. NOTHING!
just FYI sony is doing SO bad that they are considering shedding their TV division and Playstation division. What they will continue to make is beyond me becuase their laptops and mp3 players have been losing more money than anything else.
I used to love Sony... but just like Honda and half the companies in japan, they have gone bonkers.

They already have something like that here in Japan for cell phones. It is a box that you can charge your cell phone, just about ANY cell phone (but apples). It costs about 300 yen, has a little door you put your cell phone in, put in a pin number, and come back later to pick up. They have them at clubs, and bars, and gyms. Places you will be for a while and may need your cell phone, but wont be able to find a charger. The one at my gym has 5 years of dust on it.

People need to get a life and stop mooching off of these companies. Charge your electronics at home, and stop setting up your office at Starbuck's. I've been at a Starbuck's counter before when a man working on his laptop asked the manager to turn down the music because he couldn't focus on his work. How self centered is that? I find it hilarious that anybody would defend this behavior. It's the same reason that Costco changed it's awesome return/exchange policy. Instead of returning defective items, people treated it as an upgrade service and returned perfectly fine televisions for the new model years later. They took advantage of a generous system, and it was changed because of it. Get a life already.

Ok heres the deal, yes i did read the article i was just responding to the idea that it could potentianally lead to. And second off the reason that people sometimes have to go to a coffee shop to do thier work or get stuff done is because of the internet, not everyone can get it or afford it but its needed for just about everything.
Now what if you needed to download a file that took longer than your could last? Plugging it in for that extra five minutes shouldnt have to require some insane system of paying, having something track you and eventually getting a reciept or something for something so trivial.

This is a horrible idea. This will go no where. Sony should focus on creating portal devices where people can charge their laptops using solar or hydrogen. I would never pay for electricity at a coffee shop. Have you ever had to pay to use the restroom? I have and I try to avoid those countries.

Sounds daft, how much can it possibly cost to charge a laptop or a tablet. Increase the price of coffee by 10 cents. To install and administrate the system will cost more than it is worth it.

Hate to tell you but starbucks is not losing money by allowing people to charge things at their places. They are gaining money because 80% of the people there are buying more and more the longer they are there. The company that will excel if something like this comes out is the one that DOES NOT put it in.