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The day before next week's Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) Wireless 2006 trade show officially begins, at two pre-show conferences - Billboard Mecca (entertainment) and the SmartPhone Summit (enterprise) - executives and luminaries will gather to analyze, debate, argue, roundtable, educate, and learn about their respective pieces of the mobile pie.

Both Billboard Mecca and SmartPhone attendees will have a surprise in store for them as well. They'll be among the first consumers to get their hands on a product built on a technology years in the offing, a fuel cell, courtesy of Medis Technologies.

Medis will give each one a Power Pack, which is a disposable portable charger that provides the juice to operate cell phones, smartphones, PDAs, MP3 players, portable video game players and other devices with similar power requirements.

Power Pack measures 85 x 55 x 35 millimeters (3.3 x 2.2 x 1.4 inches) and weighs less than 150 grams (5.3 ounces)—smaller than a Treo or BlackBerry in size but thicker. By comparison, a typical alkaline D cell weighs about 148 grams (5.2 ounces).

The commercial implementation of fuel cells for consumers has been a major goal for electronics companies. That's because a fuel cell is an electro-chemical device that converts the chemical energy of a fuel, such as hydrogen, ethanol or methanol, into electrical energy and water. It is a much cleaner technology than what's used in current batteries, and promises to greatly increase power capacity as well.

Medis VP of marketing Michelle Rush told PDAStreet the Power Pack uses a proprietary non-toxic and non-flammable fuel, does not emit any heat whatsoever, and is a single cell device without noble metals such as platinum—potential pollutants.

Power Pack allows for the continued use of a portable device through multiple charges of a battery for up to 30 additional hours for a cell phone or 60 to 80 hours of extended music play for an iPod, for example. You can get 9 full cell phone charges on a full Power Pack or maybe 20 with a Play Station Portable, according to Medis.

A portable device is attached to one end of a wire connected to a thumbnail size chip with Medis proprietary power management technology - to determine voltage - on the other. The chip, embedded in Power Pack, is why the unit can support such a wide variety of mobile devices.

As Rush said, "All that is needed is the appropriate connector." These connectors are removable and fit a number of different types of portables.

"Cutting the last remaining tether to the wall takes wireless to a whole new level allowing you to get all of your mobile entertainment anytime, anywhere. Small, lightweight, convenient and inexpensive, the Medis Power Pack provides affordable mobile power, when you need it and when you want it," Rush explained.

When you’re done with a Power Pack, simply chuck it into the garbage. Rush asserted the peripheral is safer for the environment than a regular battery.

Rush also emphasized that the Power Pack wasn't simply just another emergency charger, as it gave users significantly more power. She likened it to carrying a wall outlet around in your pocket or purse.

Availability
While Billboard Mecca and SmartPhone Summit attendees will be able to try out the Power Pack for 20 to 80 hours, depending on their device—and there's no reason they couldn't use it with multiple types of portables—the rest of us will have to wait a bit longer for our chance at a fuel cell. (And Rush thinks it'll be a while before another company comes out with something similar, asserting competitors haven't successfully addressed heat issues.)

The company is planning to launch the power pack at retail, in limited quantities this Christmas. They also expect the product will sell for about $19.99 in stores and possibly lower through other outlets. "We are talking to various companies about branding and distribution," Rush said.

There are three distributors currently in place. It may be sold as the Kennsington Power Pack in big box consumer electronics stores like Best Buy, Comp USA and Circuit City, or at large retailers like Wal-Mart, Target and drug stores like Walgreens and airport duty free shops as the Medis Power Pack. Although, if places like Radio Shack and the Sharper Image want to give it their own name as well, Medis is flexible with branding.

The company also has agreements in place with a variety of mobile Operators, both in the U.S. (Cingular & Alltel) and in Europe. Carriers find the Power Pack attractive because it could help to keep users online, texting and using other data services, maintaining higher ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) rates.

Medis is selling the fuel cell to both distributors and operators for $8 per unit. The company will sell it directly to enterprises with large accounts for $12 a pop. Their military partner is General Dynamics.

Should Power Pack sales take off, Medis said it’s ready. "Our high volume line will be in Ireland and our manufacturing partner is Celestica. We will start producing from our high volume line Q1 07. Our high volume line will have the ability to manufacture 1.5 million units per month," Rush informed us.