Toshiba has been working on (and talking up) its fuel cell technology for years, but the promised deployments have always been just out of reach; we've heard "next year" more times than we can count. Yesterday, however, the company went a step further, promising to deliver a commercial fuel-cell powered product within Toshiba's current fiscal year. That puts the introduction sometime between now and March 31, 2009, and the guidance itself is more concrete than the company's previous mutterings.

Toshiba hasn't specified what the product will be, though a mobile phone seems most likely. The company demoed a fuel-cell powered unit at Ceatec last week, and mobile phones in general are seen as a good fit for the technology. Toshiba's upcoming products are based on direct methanol fuel cell technology (DMFC), which is better suited to providing small amounts of power over a longer period of time, as opposed to quick bursts of high use. Direct methanol fuel cells are known as such for the means by which methanol is introduced to the fuel cell itself. In a direct methanol cell, methanol and water are fed directly into the fuel cell without first reforming the methanol. The other type of unit, reformed methanol fuel cells, are more efficient and can provide more power, but are also bulkier and more expensive.

There are multiple advantages to using these type of fuel cells, including the potential for improved battery life, clean byproducts (DMFCs release only a little carbon dioxide and water), and should be reusable, provided that Toshiba designs a simple method for refilling the cartridges with methanol. Toshiba has previously demonstrated a number of fuel cell-powered products, as have other manufacturers, but this would be the first commercialized product to come to market. The delay, however, has proved advantageous in some ways—the TSA has approved regulations that would allow consumers to carry up to 100ml of fuel with them aboard an aircraft, and fuel cell technology itself has continued to advance since Toshiba's early announcements.

Commercial products are still years away from being ubiquitous, but there are signs we'll see fuel cells popping up in other ways in the near future. We've seen multiple companies demo fuel cells that attach directly to and recharge cell phones. Depending on the size of the fuel cell and the power consumption of the phone, it may be possible to recharge a single handset multiple times with an external charger—a handy feature, if you're forever leaving the charger at home. If you want more information on Toshiba's specific implementation, the company's FAQ and explanations are available here.