Imagine how great it would be if we could do away with all those tiresome chargers, wires and plug points; if all it took was a little solar energy to power your iPhone or iPod! You could just take your iPhone along with you on your morning jog, or keep it near the window while you watch some television or even better take it to the beach and let your iPhone or iPod charge while you get a great tan.

According to MacRumors.com one of the Apple rumor sites, Apple is contemplating using solar energy to power handheld gadgets and portable computers and has recently become interested in using solar power for its mobile devices such as the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

Reportedly Apple has already gone ahead and filed a patent that reveals how the company plans to use solar power cells in its mobile devices, particularly the MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook computers, as well as the iPhone iPod lines.

The patent talks about a new technique in which small solar panels are to be placed behind the LCD screen of the portable device in question. This would place the panels in the most convenient location to absorb the suns energy and light that come through.

The technique is particularly advantageous because it does not require that Apple redesign its mobile devices such as iPhones, iPods, and laptops to configure them for solar power.
There are a few glitches such as durability and the space required to fit the new technology that Apple would need to solve before it tries to launch any such devices.

MacRumors.com had this to say about the obstacles ahead of this project: “The major issues described are the limited area available to solar panels, durability, and the \”˜wasting\”˜ of space on a portable device. It is due to these problems that solar power has not found its way into mobile devices, not just from Apple, but from all manufacturers,”

However, Apple is not the trail blazer where this concept is concerned as Motorola also came up with a similar idea earlier in a 2001 patent.

Whether apple will take this idea all the way into production or whether the idea will get shelved is something only time will tell. But it will certainly be convenient to have solar powered iPods that can just charge themselves in a little sunshine.