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

I personally like the 30 pin connector. Docks could become awkward using a mini-usb as the hub connection. I have my $ on Apple using an adapter in EU.
 
Eraserhead said:
Consumers who don't want to have hundreds of new chargers every time they get a new phone.
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I am pretty sure each phone only has one charger. All electronic devices have power cords/charging cords, most which are not compatible. I have more non-cell phone power cables than I do cell phone power cables.

So you argument doesn't stick. It seems to me this change is to protect people who can't manage to bring their charging cable with them when they travel.

Seems like a big price to pay to protect those people.

It is not like the average person buys a new cell phone every 3 months.

By the way how does this prevent any of this? All this does is force people to now have to buy a charging cable because nobody will include one, because why would they? If every cell phone included the same charging cable, then you would still have the exact same number of cables as you do now. Which negates your entire argument. So it must mean they plan for nobody to include chargers with their phones.


slattery69 said:
i think its a good idea from a personal point of view. when i go away on business with work i have to take 3 chargers with me one for my works phone, one for my personal phone and one for my ipod. in future ill just have to take one charger
selfish reason i know but will work better for me
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Your iPod will not work on this standard charger. Plus you only plan on charging one thing at a time? Most people, I suspect would want to charge everything at night, so most people would likely bring multiple cables anyways. Again, I don't see how this is, in reality, helping anyone.
 
Hellhammer said:
This is a good thing, I don't get it why people are complaining. USB is much better than Apple's dock connector because it's isn't Apple's and 3rd parties don't charge 20 bucks for a cable.

At least this is some improvement from the times when EU was setting shape standards for class one cucumbers...
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kas23 said:
It certainly doesn't say they can't have a 30-pin connector. It does say it has to have a mini-USB. Sure, they could put both, but really, why would be the point? Why waste the precious space? And I'm not talking about space on the outside of the phone, but on the inside. There will have to be 2 pieces of technology that will have to detect the external connections. Just seems wasteful to me.
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Again, this does not affect the dock connector at all. They do not need to add a micro-USB connector to the phone. It only affects the charger.
 
Will this put the price of the phone up if Apple wants to mantain profit margens and no loger can charge a premium for its propriety charger?
 
marksman said:
I am pretty sure each phone only has one charger. All electronic devices have power cords/charging cords, most which are not compatible. I have more non-cell phone power cables than I do cell phone power cables.
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Well yes, because you have more "other devices" than cell phones. But imagine if you could use the same charger for all your devices - it'd be awesome. Cellphones are a good start.

marksman said:
By the way how does this prevent any of this? All this does is force people to now have to buy a charging cable because nobody will include one, because why would they? If every cell phone included the same charging cable, then you would still have the exact same number of cables as you do now. Which negates your entire argument. So it must mean they plan for nobody to include chargers with their phones.
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What will probably happen is that to start with manufacturers will include chargers and over time they won't bother as people will have them already. Just like they did with USB printers.
 
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 are happy measuring bananas and inventing banana standards, something that is critical to the civilized world. (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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Can I assume, from your tone, that you're pro-Europe?
 
wackymacky said:
Will this put the price of the phone up if Apple wants to mantain profit margens and no loger can charge a premium for its propriety charger?
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Unlikely - as the reason chargers are so expensive is that people don't consider the price of accessories when they buy the product.
 
Eraserhead said:
Very true. I'd imagine the EU 'minimum safety standards' are far stricter than needed to deliver safe operation.
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Nonsense. The EU doesn't even have proper EMC standards any more (unlike the FCC), so BT can sell, for example, Ethernet-over-powerline devices which destroy shortwave reception for broadcast and amateur service users. Whether you consider interfering with the radio spectrum is a safety issue or not depends on your common sense, but "far stricter" is definitely out.

I think that's a pile of rubbish. The British have 0% VAT on many things.
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Council directive 2006/112. (29) of the preamble for justification, and Article 97(1) for the statement. Non-Europeans may want to read this directive to understand the hilarious extent to which the EU micromanages constituent nations. You're correct that reduced rates are permitted on specific items (which are enumerated (but of course individual nations have negotiated exceptions, also enumerated)), but the standard rate of VAT must be no less than 15% in order to prevent (and I'm being serious here) "structural imbalances" and "distortions of competition".
 
marksman said:
I am pretty sure each phone only has one charger. All electronic devices have power cords/charging cords, most which are not compatible. I have more non-cell phone power cables than I do cell phone power cables.

So you argument doesn't stick. It seems to me this change is to protect people who can't manage to bring their charging cable with them when they travel.

Seems like a big price to pay to protect those people.

It is not like the average person buys a new cell phone every 3 months.

By the way how does this prevent any of this? All this does is force people to now have to buy a charging cable because nobody will include one, because why would they? If every cell phone included the same charging cable, then you would still have the exact same number of cables as you do now. Which negates your entire argument. So it must mean they plan for nobody to include chargers with their phones.





Your iPod will not work on this standard charger. Plus you only plan on charging one thing at a time? Most people, I suspect would want to charge everything at night, so most people would likely bring multiple cables anyways. Again, I don't see how this is, in reality, helping anyone.
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im talking about in the future ie as my device get updated sorry if that wasnt clear. i dont always need to charge mulitple devices at once as works phone and personal phone have decent batt life so tend to get charged separately, ipod drops batt quicker so needs charging more often. my camera also has a micro usb so again that can use the same charger .
makes perfect sense to me i see no problem with a universal standard on charging, but then i dont run my ipod through the tv for videos as the videos are already on the laptop so just stream it from the laptop to tv.
my reason are purely selfish as i said early
 
BaldiMac said:
Again, this does not affect the dock connector at all. They do not need to add a micro-USB connector to the phone. It only affects the charger.
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Got it. But why would we ever need a separate docking and charging connection? Multiple connections on the iPhone/iPod make zero sense. Geez, they don't even want to add additional buttons, why would they want to add a redundant connector? It goes against Apple's obsession with a thin, compact, and streamlined product.
 
Cromulent said:
I don't think anyone would dispute the fact that the EU wastes money. Farming subsidies are a great example but then the US do the same thing too. In fact the reason for the EU in the first place was so that European nations could compete with countries like the US economically. You as a business owner should appreciate the fact that you have access to a free trade agreement which covers over 500 million people.
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Repeating a previous post… I don’t dispute the fact that Europe was too fragmented. The way it is setup and the power Brussels has to pass law on the different countries I definitely dispute.

I don’t mind some subsidies (be they in the EU or USA), they are there to compensate for the cost of labour/production in the developed world.
 
Eraserhead said:
Well actually they did - otherwise they'd have to leave the European market - which they obviously aren't going to do.
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I read last year that they just agreed to. Didn't think they were forced into it. But I agree with others here that Apple will most likely just include an adapter to use a micro USB connector. Their 30pin is so universal, it's actually very economic, I can't see them eliminating it. You cant go anywhere where someone won't have a 30pin haha.
 
Veri said:
Council directive 2006/112. (29) of the preamble for justification, and Article 97(1) for the statement. Non-Europeans may want to read this directive to understand the hilarious extent to which the EU micromanages constituent nations. You're correct that reduced rates are permitted on specific items (which are enumerated (but of course individual nations have negotiated exceptions, also enumerated)), but the standard rate of VAT must be no less than 15% in order to prevent (and I'm being serious here) "structural imbalances" and "distortions of competition".
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Fair enough, but its not a totally silly idea because its a common market, so if the Germans had a 5% general VAT I could buy my new computer or car or anything big from Germany and save a ton of money.
 
kas23 said:
Got it. But why would we ever need a separate docking and charging connection? Multiple connections on the iPhone/iPod make zero sense. Geez, they don't even want to add additional buttons, why would they want to add a redundant connector? It goes against Apple's obsession with a thin, compact, and streamlined product.
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I'm not sure what you are getting at. The most likely way that Apple would comply would be to include a USB to micro-USB adapter with the charger so other phones could plug into it. Nothing would change for someone using an iPod/iPhone.
 
This is brilliant news. I'm glad this will be adopted by manufacturers.

I've been hoping for this for years, it'd be nice if the next DS and PSP also supported it. Just get all gadgets charging off mini USB plugs; it'd save so much space and would eventually be better for the environment.
 
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...".

Add to that the third party docks and chargers that won't work anymore and then say again "Not that that applies to the iPhone,".
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+1x99999999999999

I wired my car with a module to allow me to use my iPod/iPhone with the built in Navigation screen. With the install, it set me back over $500, if I remember correctly.

Then I got the iPhone 3Gs and it stopped working, with the same smug "this device is not made for this iPhone...."

I am glad the EU is enforcing standardization of charging connectors. It will save us all $$ and it will save landfills of discarded chargers.

Here is the US following suit, soon.
 
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