How many cell phones have you owned in the last 10 years? Now how many of those used the exact same charger? Not many I suspect, unless your phones were from the same manufacturer, and even that wasn’t a guarantee. Here comes the solution.
In May 2010 news buzzed around that the European Union might require a universal charger for all cell phones, just to cut down significantly the number of redundant charger manufactured every year i.e. whopping number of 51,000 tons according to estimates of GSMA. In October the idea becomes the reality and now the implementation work has already been started.
According to the reports of ‘Register’, harmonized chargers will rule in the cell phone industry in the next two years, noting that Apple, Nokia and RIM will all have phones out during 2011 that would be capable of using the same universal charger to juice up via micro USB.
It's not just these three companies, however -- Emblaze Mobile, Huawei Technologies, LGE, Motorola, NEC, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, TCT Mobile (Alcatel), and Texas Instruments are all on board to manufacture phones with micro USB charging within the next two years. This means far fewer redundant chargers manufactured, and a reduction in e-waste.
