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As editors, we often break some great news stories; place you, our reading audience, on the ground floor of new developments; and provide good insight on how those developments are going to impact your design task or job. But we can't break the doors down on news that may in truth have no punch line.
I'm talking about a kind of odd story I haven't seen in a good number of years. It's Energizer's initiative to expand the availability of its "Quad A" alkaline battery. More specifically, it's an AAAA battery, which by most accounts is picking up in popularity, although apparently it's not that easy now to secure from retailers. It measures 42.5 by 8.3 mm and weighs 6.5 grams. With these size and volume attributes, it's going to have a great impact on miniaturization and portable electronics, implies the initial press feed that slid across my desk two weeks ago and receded into the great beyond. The battery holds its charge for a very long time, some say. But, curiously, I haven't found that kind of allegory or other than what I'd call minimal technical info on Energizer's site. Nor have I located any other significant new info of use to you about it. Beyond that, there's very little to tell.
But Energizer says you should know about this new initiative, so here it is. Is the story all that important? I'm not sure. Because after about 10 days, I haven't located the proper authority I need to do an in-depth interview (or to paraphrase, "ten days is just about my limit on schnitzengruben"). Taking more than a few days to get a story of mine done is unusual, so having lost its timeliness the story must reduce to an announcement without any technical punch. There's a ton of questions I could be asking on the current state of the art, and getting the answers to. Such as, why would designers want to use this battery over all other alternatives? What are its specific power-density and/or energy-density advantages? Who makes competing products, and how do they rate? Has your battery been improved, or will it be, and, if so, how does it/will it outperform what's already available? What's the technology roadmap for this product, and what will be its cost profile? This is the in-depth story you need to know. But I'm judging that there's just enough info here to let you know about marketing strategy only.
As for the technical details, "son, you're on your own." Are there any details of importance? Perhaps this time I should suggest you make a call to Energizer to get the answers you need. Whatever it takes to tickle your fancy.
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