Standard Cellphone Chargers For Europeans

k33l0r writes "The European Commission is confident that all major cellphone companies have reached an agreement on a standard cellphone charger for consumers within the EU. 'People will not have to throw away their charger whenever they buy a new phone,' said EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments have all signed the agreement."

Comments

Thanks EU regulation

[slb]

A good exemple that sometimes the market is unable to find the most optimal solution and someone has to regulate.

Re:Thanks EU regulation

[teg]

A good exemple that sometimes the market is unable to find the most optimal solution and someone has to regulate.

While I agree that some regulation is necessary - among other things to maintain healthy competition and free markets - they didn't actually regulate it. They hinted that they might, so the vendors found a solution themselves instead. A gentle, but firm, push in the right direction.

Re:Thanks EU regulation

[itsme1234]

The market at least in the EU had already pretty much standardised on USB charging.. every non-nokia phone I've had used it. Nokia of course had to be different, but there's only 2 nokia charging standards and adapters are readily available (and since ~70% of the phones you see around are Nokias, it's a sort of standard).

What this does is codify what was already happening.

In what world is this already happening?! We bought at the office recently two Nokia, two Sony-Ericsson and one Samsung. They are beyond craziness with respect to connectors.

- both Nokias have the "standard Nokia" thin connector that doesn't comply to ANY reasonable electric standard so you can't just connect it directly to USB or any power supply of any reasonable parameters. Specifications here: http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/3378ff2b-4016-42b9-9118-d59e4313a521/Nokia_2-mm_DC_Charging_Interface_Specification_v1_2_en.pdf.html
- one Nokia HAS a standard mini (or micro?) USB connector but it won't charge over it
- the other Nokia has a USB connector that LOOKS like mini but it doesn't fit anything but a specific Nokia cable. It still doesn't charge over it
- both S-E are equally crazy. You need to connect the headphones to the bottom of the phone via a proprietary connector! This is where power and USB cable also go! Still they would charge over USB but you need the proprietary cable and you need to have the proper drivers in the OS (yes, to charge). Because everything connects there you have interesting combinations like you can't charge when listening to the headphones or you can't listen to the radio while charging (because radio needs the headphones plugged in for antenna)
- Samsung has some kind of crazy flat connector, did not take a close look but certainly not USB of any kind
- for S-E and Samsung the old chargers don't fit the new phones.

I see this as a BIG MOVE for Europe.

Re:How about the damn US?

[furby076]

It's not too much of a lock-in. I can't imagine someone saying, "Man, I'd love to change carriers, but I just don't want to have to use a new charger (which comes with the free phone I'll get). I guess I'll stick with my current carrier!"

My phone came with one charger. I keep a charger at my desk at home (so i can be on my computer and not worry about charging). But I like to have my phone by the bed in case someone calls me - so i dont have to run to the living room (plus it is a secondary alarm for me). So I need to be an additional charger. Then I need one for work (blue-tooth kills phones)...that's two chargers. Then I need one for the car (blue-tooth again, plus i travel a lot)... that's three chargers. Now I also like to connect the device to my computer to transfer files...4th accessory. I would prefer if i could just swap.

The carriers do care - a lot of the profit for the stores is accessories. They try and push this on you like candy. They buy the chargers for $2-$3 from the manufacturer and sell them for $15 to $25. That's a big profit margin. It's also why you can generally negotiate them. They get a ton of money for selling you phone/service. They are not willing to lose that money so they will give you the chargers.