Being an ex-Pre user, induction charging holds a special place in my heart. I still whip my original Palm Pre out just to play with it. Every time I see one of my 3 induction charger bases for it, I just wish someone would make a new phone use them out of the box. I LOVE the idea!
My idea of a "smart" induction charger would be a combo of NFC and induction charger. The charger pad would sit idle, drawing absolute minimum power until an NFC/Induction capable phone was put on it. The phone would send a message to the pad via NFC to turn on the charger, which it then starts to charge the phone. Every 60 seconds or so, the pad would poll the NFC connection to make sure the phone is still there, if it is, keep charging. If the phone isn't found, go to back to sleep.
The phone would also have the ability to send a message via NFC to say that its fully charged and put the pad into a trickle charge mode (but still poll for no phone every so often).
In addition, the charging pad could be programmed just like any other NFC tag so you can make one pad be the "bed side" pad and another be the "office desk" pad. This would allow you to make your phone react to each pad in a unique way, like turning on the screen to a minimum brightness with a clock on it for the bed side.
If someone was to make this, you better believe I would buy it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus