USB Charging Et Al.
The USB discussion is great fun, especially given the many opportunities to express opinions in advance of any facts. Anyway...
European Union MoU 455 dated 1 October 2009 stipulates that data-enabled mobile phones sold in the EU must have a USB port that allows standardization of chargers. According to a 4 August 2010 article in Wired, Apple and other companies have agreed to this standardization so far as EU sales. Apple has not yet agreed to modify its proprietary iPhone connector for U.S. units although analysts expect the U.S. to eventually follow the EU in this standardization effort.
Does MoU 455 apply to iPads sold in the EU? Maybe, since iPads are sold with cellular connectivity, and 455 applies to "data-enabled mobile phones." The spirit of MoU 455 clearly includes iPads, but Apple attorneys might be able to argue that in the strict sense it does not. Since the widespread popularity of tablets was not a factor when MoU 455 was issued, the EU will probably pick up this stitch a bit later if it needs to.
Going to a micro-USB port for iPads sold in the U.S. is more problematic. Eventually Apple will probably have to do this. It is more efficient to manufacture iDevices with a single charging system worldwide, but Apple may decide that it can risk the wrath of the EU for another year and forgo such a move. It's not a technical decision so much as a manufacturing decision, and Apple may feel that revamping this aspect of its manufacturing is not really worth it right now.
But Apple knows it's coming, and they will comply. They will comply for all iDevices, because it's simpler that way. They know that their chances in pushing other forms of industry standards (e.g., HTML5) will falter if they try to have their way on everything. These people are not dumb bunnies who are willfully imposing design decisions on the rest of us. They are very smart business people who will steer a middle course that benefits the bottom line.
