EU commissioner pushing for standard connector for all cellphones
by Donald Melanson 
posted Feb 15th 2009 at 9:17PM
While some companies like Connectland have already offered up their own solution to the problem of multiple cellphone connectors (seen at right), a European Union commissioner now seems to be taking the idea one step further, and is starting to push the notion of one standard cellphone connector to rule them all. According to Telcompaper, European Commissioner for Industry Günter Verheugen recently said in a German interview that he has had his patience tested after giving the cellphone industry several chances to develop a single cellphone connector, and he's now not excluding "severe measures" to force them to reach a solution. His main concern, as you might have guessed, is the waste that results from folks needing a new charger for each new cellphone, although the cellphone industry obviously sees things a bit differently, with the EICTA's Tony Graziano saying that Verheugen's demand is "legally and technically impossible" due to differences in voltage and battery requirements within the European Union. In any event, it seems that some actual regulations are still quite a ways off from becoming a reality, and Verheugen still insists that he'd prefer to see the industry arrive at a standard voluntarily.[Via Tweakers.net]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dishbreak @ Feb 15th 2009 10:09PM
Wow, first, I guess.
Dunno if I dig this one too much. Personally, I'd be happy if miniUSB became a standard for charging.
NuShrike @ Feb 16th 2009 12:34AM
Why don't they standardize using mini/micro usb, or iGo's connector system of one charger, multiple tips?
It's as redundant as asking why Engadget isn't mobile/Windows Mobile friendly?
Al @ Feb 16th 2009 1:33AM
MicroUSB should be the standard.
Poul @ Feb 16th 2009 5:22PM
What about the China incident recently? Where the chinese government was toying with forcing mobile phone manufacturers into making all phones able to charge through USB 3.0, seems much more preferable to me than any common charger. That still requires you to lug around a charger, where as if you could charge through USB, you could charge almost anywhere without any need for such things, as wherever you went would be likely to have such a connector available.
Sean Harlow @ Feb 16th 2009 5:52PM
+1 on USB, though please no stupid micro-USB crap, just standard mini-B. Everyone already has a billion and one of these cables, so it's a good thing to allow people to just carry a few of those and be able to charge + sync everything.
Do something like HTC's ExtUSB if you need to extend the port, but make sure that power and data are right there so I can take a standard USB cable I already own, plug it in, and not only charge but also access any cards, the phone's memory, and tether.
3247 @ Feb 18th 2009 4:24AM
There is no longer a "standard mini-B". Mini USB has been deprecated in favour of Micro USB.
CarrotMan @ Feb 17th 2009 2:29PM
There's been an anouncement today on MWC by Rob Conway, chef of GSMA, that the new standard is going to be based on MircoUSB and for now supported by 20 companies, like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG and Sony Ericsson as well as some carriers.
Cf.: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/MWC-Hersteller-versprechen-einheitliche-Handy-Netzteile--/meldung/132700