Why Can’t We Get A Standard Phone Charger Like Europe?

@tehsquish - Still plays Ultima Online: Agreed, not very well played...

ospreyguy

@Rabid Penguin: Better example. Debeers Diamonds. Monopoly on the diamond industry and they aren't allowed to sell directly in the US. They aren't so much now as they were 10-15 years ago but still it was there... Another, utilities. Why MUST I buy my electricitiy from one source. The phone industry was the same now it's semi competative and service and prices are better.

ospreyguy

@worsethannormal: I leave my home often, but I always seem to end back up there at the end of the night... Which ends up being very convenient for charging my phone.

We're pretty much there already. Of the phones that I carry in my store for Sprint, VZ, and AT&T, I'd say that 75% are on microUSB now. Do you really think that the EU's decision will have no bearing on the other countries of the world? Look at it from a cost perspective- If I'm Samsung, and I have to provide phones with a specific charging port in one area, don't youy think I'll do it everywhere simply as a cost reduction model?

Matt Nicholson

@Rabid Penguin: It matters when you forgot to pack your charger and you need to borrow someone elses. But I guess that would involve leaving your home everyonce in awile. so you have no worries there.

worsethannormal

@qbrad: "who cared about space when there weren't any burners at launch..."

The Industry cared about space. This is why BR won, the Industry was looking at the future and HD's capacity was simply not "future ready".

worsethannormal

@Shivver: Huh? Is there a need to have 80 billion different styles of power sockets on phones? Is that a choice consumers need or even want? Is any one socket standard ever been better than another? Can you beat USB since it carries power and data and its become a glogal standard? Don't be stupid. Do we need competition in the marketplace? Sure. Do we need new ideas in the market place? Sure. But this is not an area where choice makes a differenece and leads to frustration and confusion. There is no benefit to the consumer in having this particular choice (which is really no choice at all; did you buy your last phone based on its power socket type?). In fact just the opposite is true.

And I would say that the EC did this in the right way. Instead of mandating to companies, they worked with the companies to deveolp/pick a standard. So what the goverement did here was see an area they could imporve consumers' experience and worked with the industry to come up with a solution.

worsethannormal

Yes! Now we can keep the cable we use to charge our phones year after year whilst we send our old phone to the landfill each year we want to upgrade.

Brilliant!

SAN66

it's good to have a universal charger, i travel a lot and hate to pack 4 -8 different chargers to take around for a 3 days trip

bookmark

@Roger Huston:

sounds like another brain washed patriotic biatch to me....

bookmark

in South Korea too.. I just bought a phone, and the guy was matter-of-factly, "you have a charger right?"..
I was just like.. why would i have a charger for this phone?

Alas.. there is one charger.. but phones still have different inputs, but the adapter is made like a keychain and attached to the phone.. cool beans.

@daPrinz: Betamax came out first though and was initially widely adopted. Betamax also did have a higher quality video to the first VHS tapes (though VHS had longer play times). In the end though they could do pretty much the same thing, except VHS could achieve longer play times and Betamax tapes didn't wear as quick. But they had the same video quality, same sound quality, etc.

But again, when they first came out, if you wanted to watch a feature-length film VHS was were it was at. But for higher quality video (so for maybe professional use) you would use Betamax/Betacam.

Either way I like DVDs/Blu-Ray :c) ... except when you can't skip the damn commercials at the beginning :c(

My Verizon LG VERSa has Micro USB and the charger is a usb cable and a usb wall adapter. Thank you LG.=]

@makk: well, that other one is so we can price gas by the gallon instead of the liter, and make it appear cheaper.

but in all honesty, phones should move towards a more universal charging standard. i know, for one, that out of the five phones in my house, two charge via mini-USB and a third one charges via micro-USB, so i can just use industry-standard USB cables to charge (and sync) them. if they can't agree on what type of USB plug to use, at the very least, get them all working on some form of USB. it's easier to convert a micro-USB into a mini-USB than it is to convert a samsung proprietary plug into mini-USB, since the same amount of pins is there for the same exact functions, so adapters are easy to make.

i personally think mini-USB is small enough, i use it for my blackberry, i use it for my brother's camera, i use it for my clié (the three times a year that i still use it) and its size doesn't inhibit anything else, plus there's already a huge mini-USB infrastructure thanks to the popularity of the blackberry and the RAZR.

@daPrinz: From a picture quality standpoint, yes.

Major-General

I'm all for individuality and everything...but its not exactly communist to try and agree on a standard charger like the micro here in the US. We can't be a completely, standardless society can we?...

SAfiftyseven

@Purple Monkey Dishwasher: I've seen some broken sarcasm meters before but I think yours has blown a head gasket.

tehsquish - Still plays Ultima Online

Fuck Europe. They piss and moan and complain and think they can control everything. They can't. They just lucked out on this one. It's great Apple will provide an ADAPTER but in no way should they EVER replace their 30-pin connector.

And MICROUSB? What a terrible choice. Mini would have been better since it's more common.

Terry Mele

@dosdelon:

like the headphones for the new nano's is it??? i dont know one of the new fangled players they have, not that im any better. with my 3gs but hey now I have an extra adapter from my 2g iphone yesss!

William Warnock

@beyondthetech: let's start with having a standard, then we can grouse about it. The U is USB stands for 'Universal', right?

flowerofhighrank

@nutbastard: The problem is, most of these companies don't advertise the connectors they use, and it's a difficult subject to research. Give me a quick, simple "Charges by Mini-USB" logo or blurb in the product description on my cell phone provider's website, and I'll buy that model every single time. But most often, it's a completely unadvertised feature.

HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.

@D0rk: who cares what apple thinks...they arent above the law... if they dont like it they can buy an offshore oil rig and do what they feel like...

lots of companies follow laws they dont like, do you think apple is going to stop making phones if they dont like the charger law?

urbanturban666

@Rabid Penguin:
VHS superior to BetaMax?
That's why VHS was in your living room and BetaMax in TV Station and Production Companies.

daPrinz

@qbrad:
50GB storage vs 20GB is not better tech? Ok

daPrinz

@urbanturban666: I'm not against the idea. I was just pointing out the fact that there is a valid reason why Apple would not like this idea in the States. There's got to be a huge profit margin in those $20 dock cables that Apple sells. If that goes from USB-30pin to USB-USB, you lose the ability to charge $20.

Yes there already are cheaper knockoffs for the current dock connector, but USB to USB is dirt cheap by comparison.

D0rk

@ghmlco: There's two ends to every cable.

D0rk

@abort_user: Mini USB is fine with as well, but Micro's always piss me off and after a year of using one on my phone it still is by no means intuitive to use. I'm also damn fearful I WILL break the thing eventually only because I've plugged it in the wrong way by accident one too many times.

@qbrad: Actually, Betamax lost because Sony refused to license the technology to other companies, hence driving up the cost artificially while JVC licensed VHS to everyone. Sony made the same mistake with MiniDisc. VHS also had longer recording capacity.

HD-DVD lost because it had lower capacity, which a lot of companies saw as a disadvantage compared to Blu-Ray and they wanted to have something that was future-proof. The majority of the Studios backed Blu-ray over HD-DVD and the PS3 pretty much sealed its doom. Considering the obscene cost of the players at launch and even now, this was not a format war decided by consumers, but rather by the companies themselves. The majority of consumers just sat back with their DVDs and watched the sparks fly until the dust settled on the victorious format.

@WearingBlue4BillyMays_GitEmSteveDave: they have there monthly plans for that...

urbanturban666

@beyondthetech: they break cause the employees dont give a damn about stuff they dont own... do you think they check the oil in there rental cars? do they clean up there hotel room when they are done? hell no!

urbanturban666

i dont get why people are saying that it cuts out there choices... if anything you have more choice on whom you want to buy your charger from....

urbanturban666

@D0rk: setting a standard benefits the consumer... i dont get why everybody hates it...

look at all the desktop pcs...they all have the same 2$ atx cable, if there was no standard you would need to buy a new one for 50$ that only works on one make...

urbanturban666

@makk: it makes sense like 3/8ths of the time...

urbanturban666

@blazedshaggy: but what the eu is doing is letting people CHOOSE whom they want to buy the charger from instead of getting gouged...i think its some form of anti trust law...

before they had to CHOOSE what type of charger they wanted, but did not have a choice in whom they bought it from....

urbanturban666

@mnerd: now you can actually "choose" whom you want to buy your charger from...instead of having to crawl back to apple for another 45$ whammy...

urbanturban666

@Act Now and get a 4th Celebrity Death Free!: Lite: but now you can choose whom you buy your charger from...

urbanturban666

@mnerd: probably some anti-trust law going on there...

urbanturban666

We won't get a standard port because AT&T Verizon Sprint and T-Mobile LOVE raping us with accessories... and our government likes to mingle in ares of our lives that don't matter, rather than ones we would like them to...

dcdttu

I have been throwing around the idea to a few friends that the iPhone power adapter is flawed in so many ways and should simply put one of their best ideas to use on the iPhone. The MagSafe power adapter for the macbooks are a stroke of genius and should be implemented on the iPhone. It would make things so much easier. A universal charger is a good idea, but I still think that Apple is in a class all it's own.

Archangel1596

Apple: bastards! Just throw away that bloody proprietary connector! What can be adaptered can be put in in the first place.

And one more question: What about digicams? Can they also please get a µUSB charging cable. And, hint-hint: µUSB can also transport data...

yogibimbi

Update: Looks like Apple's going to provide an adapter.

Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of having a universal charger, since you'll have to carry around this little adapter piece with you anywhere you go? Although I think these days I'm more likely to find someone with a 30-pin iPod connector.

@Higher750:

USB only has 5 pins, and two of them are for power.

the apple 30 pin connector handles video out, audio out, communications, power in and out, and other forms of connectivity like docks and bluetooth adapters. you simply can't do that on 5 pins. can't. apple didn't go with a 30 pin connector for no good reason - they need enough independent connections to do what they wanted it to do, plus a few spares. also, it provides structural support when docked, something as flimsy as micro USB can't do either. so yeah, your theory... it has holes.

@willyolio:

"there are NO phones with standardized chargers. therefore, you can't possibly choose a phone based on its charger."

you might want to review the soundness of your logic there, specifically the complete absence of it. there need not be standard connectors in order for the charger to play a viable role in your purchasing decision. many phones already use micro USB, so why not get one of those? if you go for something else, you're basically saying, even though i don't like this as much as i could, i'm still willing to part with my money to have this, despite the drawbacks.

until you are unwilling to part with your money because of perceived drawbacks, you're actually hindering the advancement of cooperative standardization, because you're telling the companies that it's not a deal breaker, that you'll still buy their phones anyways.

@Rabid Penguin: And to clarify, I don't think having proprietary chargers stifles competition. If it did, the iPhone would never have outsold phones people already owned with chargers they already owned.

@willyolio:
"NOBODY makes phone choices based on chargers"
That was my point. Although there are cell phones that will use the same chargers, for instance, my RAZR uses a MiniUSB charger, people probably chose the iPhone because they thought it was a better phone, regardless of whether their old charger would work with it.

@beyondthetech: i agree. mini-usb are my limit. they look flimsy but i still feel if im careful i wont break one.

micro on the other hand looks too thin. it will likely snap easily. considering how much they overcharge for replacement accessories thats probably the scheme.

abort_user

Absolutely no way this would supplement the 30-pin plug.

This will replace the current 30-pin plug and will also be launched world wide. So even though there is no proposal for US markets, we'll see this anyways. Apple wouldn't waste $$ developing two different plugs for different markets. That is just stupid and hurts consumers as well as Apple.

Higher750

@qbrad: You contradict yourself. The size and expense of Betamax are definite negatives that made it a worse consumer product than VHS. It may have been technologically superior, but that's not the only factor people use to buy a product.

As for HD-DVD, capacity is definitely a long-term issue where Blu-ray had the advantage. Just because burners weren't available at launch does not mean capacity would never be an issue.

Shivver

@drewheyman: My kid's old Razr had a mini-USB charger that was not standard - if you plugged it in to a computer or other USB charger, you'd get an error. You had to use the USB charger that came with it.

That's what's even more frustrating - when a company takes a "standard" connector and then tricks it up so it doesn't work with "standard" accessories.

jswilson64

@Rabid Penguin:
NOBODY makes phone choices based on chargers... for the exact reason i stated. there are NO phones with standardized chargers. therefore, you can't possibly choose a phone based on its charger.

perhaps you should sit down and think about it for a little longer.

willyolio

Because if someone comes up with a better idea, they won't have it stuffed by the "standards" guys. Do you know who is behind the regulations on smoking? Phillip Morris. Regulations are expensive to big companies, but they add a few pennies to their price. But they destroy small companies. Regulation is the cheapest way to remove competitors; cheaper than advertising, cheaper than sales.

Do NOT want to be like Europe.

In my house we have different cells and, so far, we all use mini usb: kids, husband and I. For me it is a plus. car chargers, home charges and travel chargers are the same. No more complaining about forgetting cables at home!

giannacl

@Mixiboi: And 75% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

@qbrad: VHS is superior to BetaMax, and Blu-Ray is superior to HD-DVD... so the best won in both cases.

@Rabid Penguin: Pretty much. Anyone who has an iPhone has someone in their family, or friend who has an iPod, and I'll wager that they are on their 3rd iPod too boot, and with every iPod comes with an iPod wire(except the shuffle).

So yeah, an average household has 5 iPod wires, most of them going to waste....

Mixiboi

@Shivver: Both BetaMax and HD-DVD were better products. Betamax lost because of the size of the tapes and the expense of the equipment. HD had a finalised standard before release, and had pr0n on their side. Blu-Ray is not better tech, it just had more finance behind it. Yes, BR has more capacity and scratch-proof discs, but who cared about space when there weren't any burners at launch and HD had the same content and resolution?
I'm not saying I want gov control to assure me that products won't have competition, but it can be a pain in the ass when the product that wins isn't finished yet.

My palm pre runs on a standard micro-usb.

I picked up 3 extra cords for $7, shipping included.

glamajamma

Because we're not socialist pigs. Granted it would be nice, but I personally don't want a governing body that regulates every facet of business.

Dane Bendixen

@elabuelito: Sorry, unfortunately, I have seen people commenting on Giz who would actually say something like this and not be sarcastic.

Purple Monkey Dishwasher

I think forcing MicroUSB does the opposite of what they indended, at least for a few years until someone actually has them.

As it us, I can charge various things with "MiniUSB" (USB Mini "B") - my Moto KRZR, GPS, PSP, PS3 controllers... To me it feels like they started to see a standard emerging, and decided to shake it up again so everyone has to buy yet another set of cables, in the guise of doing the opposite.

Micro USB? ...I've never even seen it apart from gadget blogs.

@Jim Topoleski:

Furthermore, if they're making all their european phones with this jack, why would they make different versions for the US market if they US market isn't restrictive? Wouldn't they just use the same on on ALL their phones to save themselves the headache?

ilves

Europe isn't all bad - France has a very intelligent energy policy (nukes, and lots of 'em) and Germany is exercising some very impressive fiscal restraint. Both Bush and Obama could take a lesson from those two countries on those issues - instead Obama is adopting a Spanish energy policy and a Greek fiscal policy.

Canoehead

@nutbastard: "vote with you dollars"? I dunno man. That sounds a little too political for me.

@Rabid Penguin: My family has three cellphones on one network.

Each of them requires a different charger. And a different car charger.

It's a pain.

@mnerd: U - S - A!!

Yeah, don't worry, Apple won't add a micro USB to their devices... they'll just convince you that you NEED to carry a dongle...

@mnerd: And, we love it when Samsung brings out a new charger every year!

BTW...anyone looking for classic Samsung chargers let me know. I got a drawer full of them.

smegz

@Mixiboi: So everyone who owns an iPhone owns an iPod? And according to you they not only have one iPod, they have five iPods?

@Jim Topoleski:
Yep, the GSM consortium agreed on this last year. Which is likely located somewhere in Europe.

Funny thing is, Giz was complaining when Palm put microUSB on the 800w, Treo Pro, and Pre; but now microUSB is cool because the Europeans have decided they like it. He he.

The_Gas_Man

Tha fact that Apple is in this agreement is not because Apple wants it, but because Apple has to.
If the industry wouldn't come with its own solution, the European Comisson would force them to do so or they would have forced the companies that didn't cooperate.

korneel

Apple will probably just bundle a micro-USB to dock adaptor.

ghmlco

@Rabid Penguin: Maybe because they already had 5 iPhone wires at home already, you know it's called a iPod wire.

Along with every friend they have has one too....Now with a microUSB port, they can go anywhere and not worry about their iPhone dying because they forgot their iPod wire, they can pick up a cheap microusb charger(where as a iPod wire cost around 20 bucks(with out the plug in part, that's another 10 bucks...)

So yeah, flawed example here.

Mixiboi

@D0rk: iPhone/iPod power chargers are already USB. What's proprietary about that?

ghmlco

@Purple Monkey Dishwasher: you do realize I has being sarcastic right? of course standardization is good. The reason it works on other places is because they are forced to come together and come up with a standard.

elabuelito

@ospreyguy:
But is OPEC the rule or the exception. But also OPEC is a cartel made up of twelve countries that are not free markets, and the oil industry is run by the governments... so although I may agree with your distaste in OPEC, it's not the best example. And there are also other places to get your oil from.

Having a unique plug is one of the reasons Apple will be hard to topple as king of the mp3 players.

The fact that everything is made to hook an ipod up to now, is part of the reason Apple is technically the best mp3 player out there. I like the OS, and nav of several mp3 players more than the ipod, but the fact that if I go to someone's house, chances are they are going to have something that my ipod hooks up to.

I would love to see standardization of plugs. it would bolster competition, which is always good for the consumer.

@Save me: Micro is supposedly a sturdier connector, to the tune of an order of magnitude more uses on average.

EndlessMike

@aec007: The round one's only allow analog/single connection though. So while it's okay for charging, that's all it does. USB kill's tow birds with one stone.

@Save me: Micro looks flimsier (it's pretty sturdy though, maybe your using an American made one(I keed I keed... everything is made in China)) but the Mini USB would make the phone pretty thick.

@willyolio: Assuming, of course, that an individual manufacturer maintains a single connector across its entire line, which is not the case for every manufacturer (if any).

EndlessMike

@makk: lol

zeusalmighty

Because (as many readers and bloggers here have been quick to comment), E.U. is just a bunch of whiney girls. Who will soon get a universal charger for their -future- phones. That's why I like the EU.

zeusalmighty

@Rabid Penguin: When companies come together to agree on things it is rarely in the public's interest... Can anyone say OPEC?

ospreyguy

Why just stop with plug on the phone? Why not make the charger have a removable cable.....kind of like what Apple and some others do today. That way any damn device that charges over USB could charge from the same AC adapter. Given the choice of having to carry another brick or another cable....I'll choose the cable. I have one phone and a whole bunch of other gadgets that charge over USB.

Rand

My Nokia Xpressmusic 5310 came with microUSB. Didn't exactly complement the PSP that I just bought.

Travis Juntara

And isn't NOT being like Europe how we came into existence in the 1st place?

Man you guys are getting sloppy. TechCrunch lite is it?

[lifehacker.com]

@Roger Huston: Yeah, let's have the government set the standard for all of our technology. Then we can do away with all of that pesky innovation that happens when ideas compete in the marketplace. Much better for the government to make Betamax and HD-DVD the standard and leave it at that.

Shivver

@HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.: Im with you on this one, I did opt to buy the same brand of phone, and the charger for my previous no longer works with the new one. Fun stuff!!

Apple won't be able to sell overpriced, proprietary adapters then!

Companies like our big handset makers have enough money in the pot on Capitol Hill that it's very unlikely we'll see something similar forced here state-side.

D0rk

@Act Now and get a 4th Celebrity Death Free!: Lite: Because we don't look into these matters because they're important. We look into them because we're bored. Somehow.

See also: The Primate Act.

I have both... MICRO-B and MINI-B and they SUCK!!!!!

The perfect connector is round, just like an Audio Jack... You can force it upside down, fiddle with it trying to align it properly, get the contact full of pocket lint that prevents connection...

There are SOOOOOO many wrongs with these mini/micro USB's connectors I can figure out why they can't just make them round...

;(

:(

aec007

@beyondthetech: Come on, it's USB. Cheap design for mass use, that's what it has always been, crappy and cheap. And that's why it's popular.

@willyolio: I wonder how Apple was able to get into the cell phone market and becoming the #1 selling cell phone in the US despite having a different charger than it's competitors... Maybe people don't make their choices on which phone to purchase based solely on the charger.

@Roger Huston: "The European Commission announced today that 10 mobile phone producers...have signed a *voluntary* [emphasis mine] agreement to use standardized chargers for mobile phones using a micro-USB connector."

Governing body did not *choose* the standard for them. The EU nudged them to choose a standard, but they didn't interfere.

Government involvement or oversight doesn't mean the lack of choice on the part of the individual or organization.

Viva la Government Control! So we don't have to think!

@HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H. as well.

@nutbastard: Also, I didn't say it should be a law, necessarily. But it'd be fantastic to see companies adopt a freaking standard and stick to it, and I'd support any company that does so.

HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.

@Save me: Hey, if you've ever played lacrosse you know it's better than international football and deserves to go global. Only reason why it hasn't really is a high-cost of entry for the kids versus just a $10 football.

blash

@nutbastard: "then why don't you just opt to only buy phones that use the connector of your choice?"

Because they were all discontinued.

HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.

@nutbastard:
because that choice doesn't exist? all manufacturers only use their own connector. keeping one connector means you have to keep buying the same brand of phone.

way to promote competition.

willyolio

@Magicant: Well, there is wireless A/B/G and N, but I understand what you're saying. I'm not against standardizing it either. I just don't see it as a big deal. But I've had the same cell phone for like five years and apparently don't use it as much as you guys :c)

wut kind of soshalist terrurist muslim obama luving FAG are you anyway?

storm

@HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.:

... then why don't you just opt to only buy phones that use the connector of your choice? why is there this instinct to say "I would prefer it be that way, therefor, we should use the force of law to make it so"?

the manufacturers are free to collaborate all they want without some government mandate. vote with your dollars.

@Rabid Penguin: That's kind of the point. Why do we need to have a charger included with every phone?

If it shaved off a few bucks on the cost and I could use a charger I already have, life is better all around. I have literally dozens of chargers for various devices - it'd be great if there were standards set, the same way standards are set for data connections and wireless formats. Can you imagine if there were 10 different wireless systems and you could never access a network outside of the one in your own home? Would make a laptop pretty cumbersome.

Same reason we are also not using the metric system, it makes too much sense.

makk

Because we want your money

Mikestan

@Rabid Penguin: I had a car charger, a USB charger, and a data cable for my old phone, that are now e-trash since my old phone died and the new phone (by the same manufacturer, mind) doesn't use the same port. Not to mention that I had to keep a separate data cable and USB charger cable, and pay $10 for each, rather than go to the corner store and get a mini-USB cable for a buck.

I, for one, would welcome this standard.

HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.

@Purple Monkey Dishwasher: And a lot of good standards have come without government involvement. If companies come together to agree on a standard for phone chargers without government involvement (like it appears Europe has done) that's okay. But what we don't need is John Kerry [government] forcing it on us.

I'm pissed just thinking about what's going on in our government right now... Cap & Trade, or Crap & Tax as I like to call it... I just need to take a deep breath. Calm down Penguin, calm down...

While it may not be a ratified standard here, many of those companies have products that are sold in both markets. So we'll likely benefit from this either way.

Because America like to do things different to make itself feel special, hence lacrosse and 'football'.

Psh.

On topic, I think mini should be the standard. The micro looks like it would be easy to snap off. What happens when it breaks and the tip gets lodged in your phone?

didnt we all agree to do this last year? I thought Europe was the last to agree to the standard and US did last year. I even remember a Gizmodo article on this.

Jim Topoleski

@mnerd:

Exactly! We are not as smart as the rest of the world which is why we let companies duke it out to our expense instead of having a governing body choose the standard for us.

I mean Europe settled on GSM from the beginning, they missed all the fun of the GSM vs CDMA battle.

Viva la Choice! To the detriment of us all!!

Roger Huston

@elabuelito: This kind of standardization has very little to do with the government trying to be communist. How would you like it if every router used it's own proprietary cable and every appliance had a different power plug. Standardization can be a very good thing.

Purple Monkey Dishwasher

B/c we let our old people make the decisions around here. They have no idea what the hell they want but they know that if somebody changes it, they're going to pass a law to not let it happen!

Because companies like Apple, and many others too, love to have proprietary accessories that you have to buy from them at highly inflated prices.

dosdelon

my old razr and both blackberries are all compatible! Now i have a home charger, work charger, and travel charger, plus a single car charger.

Take that europe.

drewheyman

@enm4r:

Exactly. I want to kick my parents every time I learn they walked into a Verizon or AT&T store to buy another charger for their phones. $30-35 a pop is ridiculous, but makes for amazing profit margins.

MetaOrbit

@Rabid Penguin: It's so annoying when you forget it and then there is nothing in your friend's house that is compatible... It would be nice to not have to carry around a charger like your life depends on it.

@Rabid Penguin: Standardizing to USB will be nice though in case you forgot your charger and you can use someone else's. Also, you can now charge your phone from your laptop and in your car.

Purple Monkey Dishwasher

Verizon won't like this as they can't sell people a $60 startup kit which includes a car charger, a pleather case, and a 1GB micro-SD card. I mean, how can they be expected to survive selling $10.00 worth of stuff for only a 500% mark-up?!?!

@blackdevil: How many cell phones do you own? Does it really matter if a cell phone you don't own uses a different charger that you also don't own? I don't know about your cell phone, but mine came with a charger.

Oh, and the reason Apple is onboard is because they can then use it as an excuse to re-design the entire plug system for the iPhone/iPod Touch and thus force us all to buy all new hardware again!

More money for them, more money for the companies that make their products, it's all gravy for Apple!

Personally, I hate both micro-USB and mini-USB connectors.

They are just way too flimsy! What's with the *plastic* connector in the center? Couldn't they have attached that to one side? I do administration of dozens of Blackberries at work, and they all inevitably suffer from a broken mini-USB connector. I just had to replace my mophie Juice Air pack because the micro-USB connector completely fell out of its housing.

You can't always blame the users too, especially when it's fragile to begin with.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for standardization, but perhaps they should start with better material inside the USB connectors to make sure it lasts a long time.

it is because regulation is for commies. not for americans. I'll be damn if the government gets involved.

elabuelito

But now who will buy all the surplus $30 car chargers?

enm4r

Micro works just fine for the Env line :)

Because they can get away with this here?

Why isn't John Kerry investigating why we can't have a universal charging connection instead of how legal carrier exclusive models are?

you want choices and 20 different phone chargers.. lol

Because, goddammit, we're Americans, and we want choices!

mnerd