EC parades common phone charger
Universal power to the people
Been a long time coming, but yesterday the European Commission got its mitts on the first sample of a universal phone charger for member countries.
Commissioners were so excited that they ran a press conference, with TV cameras and all, in Brussels to show off the beast.
The brouhaha was a bit overdone - we are after all talking about a MicroUSB charger, which many handset makers already support.
But a common phone charger is undoubtedly a win for European consumers. Prices will go down a little, people will have to buy fewer replacements for lost chargers , retailers will be able to sell handsets without chargers, and the electronics waste pile will grow more slowly. Also, power consumption per phone will go down, according to the Commission.
Next stop: common laptop chargers, please.
Fourteen companies, accounting for more than 90 per cent of handset have already taken the common charger pledge and will introduce MicroUSB ports on their handsets over the course of 2011. They include Apple, LG, Motorola, Nokia, RIM, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
So where is HTC?
COMMENTS
Check your facts
I think you'll find that HTC already include Micro-USB ports on all their new handsets, so don't need to make any pledges to change
It'll be interesting to see if Apple include an extra port, remove the 30 pin one or just include an adapter (my money would be on the latter)
Um...
The "squashed mini USB" socket is microUSB. The new standard. And technically superior to mini USB (smaller and more robust).
Earlier ones were mini USB because microUSB hadn't been invented.
That Commission statement in full.
"We've copied China's rules. We had to, they make most of the phones anyway. Kthxbai."
Add spin and hype, slop on some greenwash, job done.
Where is HTC?
My last two HTC's already sported a micro-USB connection, which was annoying as the previous three HTC's had mini-usb and I had to replace all my chargers.
..in the Doldrums like always
My X6 can't even charge off the USB socket.
