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Apple Offering Micro USB Adapters to European Customers

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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In 2010, the European Union introduced a new policy to require new phones sold in Europe to support charging via MicroUSB, in an effort to standardize charging systems across all mobile phone makers.

Apple has begun offering Micro USB Adapters for the iPhone, shipping October 14 to EU customers. The adapter costs £8 or EUR9 and should also be included in the iPhone 4S when it ships later this month.
"Introduction of the universal charger will make life much simpler for EU consumers," said Dennis Abbott, a European Commission spokesperson. "When you discover you've left your charger at home or work, you will be able to use someone else's, knowing it will fit your phone. How cool is that?"

The industry agreed that the new charger will be for all smartphones and all "data-enabled" phones - and will use a micro-USB connector. The new universal chargers will not cover older mobile phones.
Click to expand...
Support for micro-USB charging via an adapter, rather than plugging directly into the phone, is allowed by the EU policy. Apple isn't required to include an actual micro-USB port directly on the iPhone.

Article Link: Apple Offering Micro USB Adapters to European Customers
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/04/apple-offering-micro-usb-adapters-to-european-customers/
richard4339

richard4339

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2006
891
108
Illinois
I think it's odd they don't offer this at least for sale outside the EU. I would prefer this.

However, I'll assume it only works for power and not anything else the dock connector can be used for.
 
D

daxomni

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2009
457
6
MacRumors said:
Apple isn't required to include an actual micro-USB port directly on the iPhone.
Click to expand...
Or required to include the adapter either?

In that case how does the law help anyone?

You're still completely dependent on a PROPRIETARY adapter!

Sounds like someone missed a rather glaring loophole. :confused:
 
OllyW

OllyW

Moderator
Staff member
Oct 11, 2005
17,196
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The Black Country, England
daxomni said:
Or required to include the adapter either?

In that case how does the law help anyone?

You're still completely dependent on a PROPRIETARY adapter!

Sounds like someone missed a rather glaring loophole. :confused:
Click to expand...

It's the charger which is standardised, the phone doesn't need to be and that's why they are allowed to use an adaptor. It was in the draft regulations from the beginning.
 
Bobbytoad

Bobbytoad

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2010
96
0
needs an adaptor - kind of defeats the purpose!

So included is a Power plug, sync cable and adaptor, or will the sync cable be in 2 parts - usb cable and adaptor? otherwise all its doing is creating more waste, which the legislation is trying to cut down on.
 
N

NathanA

macrumors 6502a
Feb 9, 2008
739
16
"When you discover you've left your charger at home or work, you will be able to use someone else's, knowing it will fit your phone. How cool is that?"

What happens when you leave your adapter at home, though? :p

daxomni said:
Or required to include the adapter either?
Click to expand...

Apple IS including the adapter, as the article stated, with the 4S. They also are selling it to anybody who bought an iPhone before the adapter's existence.

-- Nathan
 
marksman

marksman

macrumors 603
Jun 4, 2007
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Suck it Europe
 
S

scmacdaddy

macrumors regular
Dec 4, 2002
128
6
LA
i want one.

then one ipad charger and one micro usb cable charges my:

ipad, iphone, kindle, mophie juice pack.
 
R

rmwebs

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2007
3,140
0
marksman said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Suck it Europe
Click to expand...

Nice input there buddy...


----

Glad this has finally been done...very useful for the car really as most satnav's use MicroUSB now so you can share the power cable for a quick charge!
 
C

Corban987

macrumors member
Apr 21, 2011
56
0
Michigan
This is not that great an idea, how many will actually carry the adpter. I have had adpaters on phones before and when you need them you don't have them. More than likely it will sit on a cable with your computer and when your are out everything will be packed up at home and no one will have one on them.
 
K

KevinC867

macrumors 6502a
Jun 8, 2007
620
2
Saratoga, CA
richard4339 said:
I think it's odd they don't offer this at least for sale outside the EU. I would prefer this.

However, I'll assume it only works for power and not anything else the dock connector can be used for.
Click to expand...

It works for syncing as well as charging. The Apple dock cables just convert to the standard four USB signals, so there's no reason this adapter can't do that as well.
 
jayducharme

jayducharme

macrumors 601
Jun 22, 2006
4,529
5,973
The thick of it
That's probably the most elegant adapter Apple's ever made. It's compact and unobtrusive. I wish they made their HDMI adapter like that. Also, it's strange that most iPhones are black, yet all their accessories are white.
 
theBB

theBB

macrumors 68020
Jan 3, 2006
2,453
3
Corban987 said:
This is not that great an idea, how many will actually carry the adpter. I have had adpaters on phones before and when you need them you don't have them. More than likely it will sit on a cable with your computer and when your are out everything will be packed up at home and no one will have one on them.
Click to expand...
I think the environmentally friendly idea is to make phones, so that you do not have to buy a new wall charger or a car charger with every new phone. I don't think it was ever about making it easy to for you to charge your phone when you left your charger at home by mistake.
 
B

Beaubarre

macrumors newbie
Jul 17, 2011
14
5
Bobbytoad said:
needs an adaptor - kind of defeats the purpose!
Click to expand...
The point of the legislation is that in the future, the smartphones in EU won't be selling with a power adaptor as most likely everybody will already have one, which would reduce massively the waste associated with the redundant power adaptors.

Of course phones with another power plug like the iPhone will still ship with their proprietary adaptator because Apple cannot count on the owner having that specific power adaptator.
 
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