One charger fits all
‘Has anyone got a Nokia charger?’
‘Has anyone got a Sony Ericsson charger?’
There is nothing more annoying than trying to find a charger when your phone is on its last legs and nobody around has the one that you need, but wouldn’t it be nice if there was one charger that worked with all models of mobile devices so you could always have a way of topping up your battery life?
Well over the next year or so the majority of mobile manufacturers will be introducing the micro-USB connection as the standard means of charging your mobile phone. Nice one mobile phone companies, you have just solved one of life’s little problems.
The benefits of having an universal standard means that most people will be able to charge-up wherever they want through a micro-USB cable. It is also said to be beneficial for the environment as the GSMA estimates that the new standard will prevent 51,000 tonnes of redundant chargers per year and will reduce carbon emissions annually by 13.6m tonnes.
The new standard charger was approved by the International Telecommunication Union, a branch of the United Nations after input from the industry body GSMA recommended that there should be an universal standard for charging mobile phones.
Although this new standard will not be mandatory to all manufacturers it is expected that the majority of mobile phone manufacturers will sign up to the standard as many companies are already using the micro-USB connection including, HTC and Blackberry.
Sony Ericsson has said that they will adopting the new standard on their new products, however other manufacturers such as Apple, may be reluctant to do so due to patents on their connections.
It is nice to see technology companies agreeing on a mutual way of working together for the benefit of consumers as well as a way of helping to reduce carbon emissions.
It will be interesting to see if the other manufacturers follow Sony Ericsson’s lead……. no pun intended!
Tags: Environment, Mobile phone, technology
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Comments (3)
October 27th, 2009 at 9:55 am Posted by Paul Allen
why has it taken soooo long for this to happen!?
October 28th, 2009 at 1:05 am Posted by Craig McGill
I know we live in times that news travels fast - and I know we all point that out - so to that end, Apple have already signed up for this - and did so months ago.
From online:
“Several major mobile manufacturers, including Nokia, Apple and Research in Motion, have signed up for the universal charger initiative led by the Group Special Mobile Association (GSMA), according to Reuters.
[...]
The 10 cellphone manufacturers beginning Micro USB adoption in Europe are Apple, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG , NEC, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments.”
Europe Gets Universal Cellphone Charger in 2010
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/microusb/
In PR we moan about bloggers who don’t do their research, is it too much to ask that we set a higher standard?
October 28th, 2009 at 12:21 pm Posted by Mat Gazeley
Thank you for your comment, although Apple may have signed up to the initiative, there is no guarantee that Apple will make the new standard connection the sole connection for their products.
Apple has a number of options to meet the new standard. Firstly they could add an additional micro USB slot on to their devices which could change the look of the device, this way still enables Apple to keep their docking connection for third party accessories.
Secondly they could replace the docking connection with the micro USB connection which would be a radical and an unlikely move.
Thirdly Apple could provide a separate adapter to connect a micro USB cable to the iPhone, which goes against the whole point of the new standard being introduced which is to reduce the number of additional leads being produced, create a more efficient way of charging phones and also to make charging easier for the end-user.
I would welcome Apple introducing the micro USB connection, but for a company that has such a specific connection, they may have more to lose than the other manufacturers.
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