The creators of Instacharge - the mobile charging app launched in Fiji that defies the laws of thermodynamics - have defended their product, which has been widely dismissed as a con.
The founder of Instacharge, Douglas Stewart, left, meets with businessman Gaurangbhai Patel in Fiji last week Photo: Supplied / Department of Information
The app was launched with the assitance of Fiji's prime minister last week, and claims to store a phone's excess battery power, so it can be released back into the phone when the battery is low.
However, this would defy the first law of thermodynamics, which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only tranferred from one form to another.
A week after its launch, nobody has been able to download the app, and the only person seemingly able to use it was prime minister Frank Bainimarama - who used it on inventor Douglas Stewart's phone.
A screenshot of the sparsely detailed Instacharge website. Photo: RNZI
But in a statement to the website Fiji Village, the company insisted that it was legitimate, saying that in the pursuit of technology the validity of inventions had always been questioned.
"Douglas Stewart's creation has indeed caused global intrigue to those who claim to be technical experts, speculation and scepticism has been mentioned yet none have produced any substantial evidence as to why it does not work," it said.
But, in claiming to do what no scientist has been able to, Instacharge has also not produced any evidence as to why it does work.
According to Fiji Village, Instacharge said that was because of "sensitive" intellectual property, and it promised a full statement next week that would answer many questions.
It also said the app was still in development, despite its global launch being more than a week ago.
Instacharge has not responded to RNZ Interntional's requests for comment.
