EC parades common phone charger
Universal power to the people
5 ways to reduce advertising network latency
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?
