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European Commission Set to Adopt Universal Micro-USB Smartphone Charging Standard in January

nascimento said:
The Eu members of parliament are a bunch of pariahs and pass the time hassling the people of the member states with bureaucracy and paperwork.

They occupy themselves in measuring bananas and creating banana standards! (its normally the women that measure the bananas) Most have been placed there because there was no other place to put them but once in a while someone sensible thinks about something sensible!
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I'm sorry, but this comment is ridiculous. Fortunately, there seems to be no danger that you'll ever make it to Brussels.

Do you get your information from some Daily Tabloid For Dummies? MEPs are elected. The officials and bureaucrats are selected from very strong international competition. That whole banana measuring story is so embarrassing and overdone that you should never mention it again, unless you are in very rough company or with a bunch of Little Englanders.
 
Lets hope Apple announces the micro-USB connection on iPhones/iPads/iPods at the same time as USB3 support comes to all Macs.

Once 64GB iPhones appear, hopefully in 2011 USB2 is just too slow for that level of data transfer and backup each time you sync.
 
kernkraft said:
That would defeat the whole point of the proposed legislation. I'm sure that it will be regulated, how manufacturers have to comply with the standard.

Let's not forget that the current iPhone is already using USB 2.0 cable. Apple Inc might lose a fair share of licence fee after their proprietary connector. No other mobile manufacturer has been able to monetize from the chargers and adaptors as Apple.

What the future means is perhaps less rip-offs?
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I don't think the point of the legislation was actually so that we could all use each other's chargers, I think it was to reduce the waste of chargers currently being redundant and disposed of when the client phone died, maybe eventually moving to a market where phones don't come with chargers as standard, people being encouraged to use their old ones instead. Yes, there are obvious downsides to this, but that's often the way with environmental issues. If this is the case, then it doesn't really matter to the EU if an adapter is required or not.
 
Great idea - there isn't really any need for phones to have many connectors.

One for all is sufficient. Saves $ too for the consumer.
 
Apple could make a new dock connector that has a micro-usb prod and then an additional prod (or one on each side) for accossories and syncing. So the hole at the bottom will then fit a micro-usb cable for charging only and also the apple connector with additional contacts.

That wouldn't be compatible with todays apple connectors, without an adapter so I guess it will never happen.
 
Maybe I'm misreading what has been reported, but it looks to me like it is the charger that is supposed to standardize on a mini-USB connector, not necessarily the phone. Different phones may have different connectors and cables as long as they terminate in a mini-USB connector that plugs into the standard charger.

If that is the case, Apple won't need to make any change to the iPhone. All they will have to do is supply a cable with a mini-USB connector on one end and the standard dock connector on the other. Hopefully, that will be in addition to the cable with the standard USB connector as supplied now.

Edit: Adding quotes from an EU press release:

"A user who wants to change his/her mobile phone must usually acquire a new charger and dispose the current one, even if this is in perfect condition. This unnecessarily generates important amounts of electronic waste."

"Industry commits to provide chargers compatibility on the basis of the Micro-USB connector."

"Once the commitment becomes effective, it will be possible to charge data-enabled mobile phones from any charger compatible with the common specifications." [Note it does not say "using the same cable."]
 
I have enough obsolete Apple adapters/chargers in a box that will never get used again. I don't want any more.

Apple, just add a micro USB port somewhere and DO NOT give me an adapter. This whole idea crumbles if you need to have an adapter with you at all times.
 
JonB3Z said:
Maybe I'm misreading what has been reported, but it looks to me like it is the charger that is supposed to standardize on a mini-USB connector, not necessarily the phone. Different phones may have different connectors and cables as long as they terminate in a mini-USB connector that plugs into the standard charger.

If that is the case, Apple won't need to make any change to the iPhone. All they will have to do is supply a cable with a mini-USB connector on one end and the standard dock connector on the other. Hopefully, that will be in addition to the cable with the standard USB connector as supplied now.
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Don't think so, since then you'd have to bring your own cable and that would defeat the whole purpose of this. Same as for adapters.
 
andiwm2003 said:
yes it does apply to iPhones and iPods. My old iPod firewire chargers do not work with iPhones from 3G and up. That is quite stupid because the connector works and the phone recognizes the charger and then says "this device is not made for this iPhone...".
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I think Apple's now using the 12V pins (that used to be used for Firewire charging) for some other function. They didn't do it to obsolete older chargers, they did it because they needed to use the pins for some other function (that they charge accessory makers to use.)
 
Adapter

I would imagine there would be an adapter that apple would supply. So if you choose to use a micro-usb charger you could use the adapter. I'm sure there's a loop hole in there for this. Apple will not give up the 30 pin connector. Worst case scenario they would have an additional micro-usb connector on the side or at the bottom.
 
All of Apple devices already use a universal charging port: standard USB
You can charge any handheld Apple device on any standard USB port, as it exists on every computer.
To be consistent this regulation should also include that all cellphone charges should be separable at the charge via a standard USB connection. Thus allowing all phones to be charged via a computer. Why be forced to carry a cellphone charger when one has access to computer.

Apple at times (I don't know if they currently still do) shipped iPods without a charger at all.
 
gekko said:
Don't think so, since then you'd have to bring your own cable and that would defeat the whole purpose of this. Same as for adapters.
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The purpose, according to the EU, is to reduce the waste from obsoleted chargers, so no, it would not defeat the purpose at all.

Also, the memorandum of understanding specifically says that proving an adapter constitutes compliance.
 
lukemcurley said:
Lets hope Apple announces the micro-USB connection on iPhones/iPads/iPods at the same time as USB3 support comes to all Macs.

Once 64GB iPhones appear, hopefully in 2011 USB2 is just too slow for that level of data transfer and backup each time you sync.
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I don't think USB is what's causing the issues. In a race of transferring 2 GB to a standard USB harddrive compared to 2GB to an iPhone, the standard USB harddrive finishes WAY before the iPhone. I think they have bottlenecks in the system somewhere. Either the flash speed, or the controller is slow to save batter power, or something else. USB should be able to go way faster than it does. I think for this reason, apple graciously dropped firewire for their iPods/iPhones. It simplified the design and plus they found it wasn't adding any extra speed in the transfer because of their new designs had constraints...
 
Another ignorant move from the EU, trying to set world wide standards.

First off this flies in the face of standards else where that focused on standard USB. For example China, but i also believe was adopted else where.

Like the "adoption" of USB for cell phone charging this does not do away with adapter cables at all. In a nut shell it makes finding a charging port harder not easier. Just look at how easy it is to find USB ports for charging these days.

Unfortunately this is more about the EU setting a standard simply so that the standard boards can show they are doing something. It is rather stupid of them to do so in light of an already accepted standard used by the rest of the world. At least when the Chinese set USB as the standard it made sense and was practicle. The EU on the other hand expects to have a special infrastructure developed just to support cell phones.

I wish i could see a rational reason for this stupidity but we see the EU and their standards organizations doing this again and again.


Dave
 
This is terrible. The government has NO RIGHT to dictate the design of a product. If micro-USB everywhere is such a great thing, then people will demand it. Now Apple has no right to innovate as they see fit because some fascist bureaucrats in Brussels think they know how to design products better.
 
ppc_michael said:
Awesome. My smartphone is micro USB, and buying a <$10 cable for backup was almost a novelty after being used to the propriety connector for so long.
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Do you know you can buy $15 micro-usb cables and also $3 dock connector cables? Obviously not.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-gb; Nexus One Build/MASTER) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

I'd love to be able to use a single charger for all different devices.

If the consumer got a saving for choosing a phone without a charger whilst purchasing their handset with the intention of using their existing charger, this would be excellent!
 
tod said:
This is terrible. The government has NO RIGHT to dictate the design of a product. If micro-USB everywhere is such a great thing, then people will demand it. Now Apple has no right to innovate as they see fit because some fascist bureaucrats in Brussels think they know how to design products better.
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Umm okay. Wow.
 
The EU (and, by extension, many European governments) love to stick their nose into private business and overregulate. If the United States has been a poster child for under-regulation over the last 10-15 years, the EU has been the poster child for the exact opposite. Simply put, there's no reason for the government to regulate phone design in this way.

Of course, the end-game for this will be phone companies no longer providing chargers with their phones, on the claim that "well, your old charger should work just fine with this new phone."
 
Number 41 said:
Of course, the end-game for this will be phone companies no longer providing chargers with their phones, on the claim that "well, your old charger should work just fine with this new phone."
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And it will... so what's the problem?
 
djrod said:
Apple dropping their dock connector for a micro USB ? Not gonna happen.
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Umm, yes it will. Why? Because this will be the law and if Apple wants to sell iDevices in Europe, it will comply. In fact, Apple already signed on to this agreement.

djrod said:
MicroUSB can only do 2 things : Charge the phone and transfer data. Can not work as an audio/video output/control the iDevice using an external peripheral.
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That's all we should every need out of a power adaptor - charge/transfer data. We shouldn't have to buy all Apple's crap to have functions that should have natively been included in the original design of the device in the first place.

djrod said:
The law says every mobile phone has to be compatible with the new universal power adaptor, so an adaptor will be fine.
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Without an adaptor, the device isn't compatible, is it? The law say the device itself needs to be compatible.
 
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