Chinese government demands all handsets be rechargeable via USB
by Darren Murph 
posted Dec 22nd 2006 at 4:59PM
Following South Korea's lead, the Chinese government is now demanding that future handsets, regardless of brand, be able to recharge via a standard USB port. The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) hopes that the mandate will slash phone costs for users, eliminate proprietary hassles, and more importantly, eliminate waste within the country. Considering nearly "100 million" folks in China alone replace their phone annually, that's a lot of antiquated chargers hitting the junk pile, and this new standard hopes to cure the problem and cut back on waste before it gets too out of hand. While we've no idea when this mandate will actually be enforced, these head honchos sound pretty serious, and considering the estimated $306 million the country will be saving, we wouldn't doubt their earnestness.[Via Techdirt]
Filed under: Peripherals
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ry @ Dec 25th 2006 3:01PM
Great idea.
Michael @ Dec 22nd 2006 10:22PM
That will work well, especially if they don't ship a charger with the phone, that way people with multiple phones will buy only as many chargers as they need.
Rusty @ Dec 22nd 2006 5:48PM
wouldn't it be nice that they would do this everywhere. I have a BOX full of wall chargers. If you go from one brand to another, the charger usually does not work.
I'm all for this idea.
Ed @ Dec 22nd 2006 6:55PM
about time somebody did something knowing that everything uses usb, consoles and dish receivers. It would be nice going to someones house and asking if you could charge up your phone or not worrying about lost chargers. That is true i also have a pile of useless chargers all around my house. Hopefully when the make phones and get ready to sell in the U.S they will bring the usb charging here.
Nhathan @ Dec 22nd 2006 9:50PM
Motorola RAZR are USB charging capable and some of the bluetooth headsets.
j @ Dec 22nd 2006 10:50PM
great idea by the govt in China. every country should follow suit and erase the hassle of multiple chargers:(
bessie31 @ Dec 23rd 2006 8:02PM
leave it to a socialist government to impose a rule like this. obviously china is not ready for prime-time capitalism... manufacturers NEED to make 10000 different chargers
Stephen @ Dec 27th 2006 4:01PM
Thank you #6. The majority of people on this forum don't seem to understand that although it may be a practical idea it is not the government's place to mandate such a standard.
Ukb @ Jan 5th 2007 9:52AM
Stephen I beg to differ. Sometimes government is required to step in and take action. Particularly in cases of Market failure. It is in everyones interest to standardise power supplies. Including the manufacturers that increasingly have to operate on smaller margins. Why government institution or engineering standards organisations e.g. IEEE, ISO, have not come together sooner to agree a standards for supplying power to the proliferation of portable devices is a mystery to me.