I wonder why it took anyone so long to realize, but at the same time, I’m happy that a body of such large proportions as the government of China has finally put a foot down to make it compulsory for all mobile handsets to have a standard USB charger.
All of us (who don’t have a Nokia phone) have had problems finding a charger away from home, and also at home where each member of the family has a different brand phone. This is aggravated when phones are changed quite frequently, as a new place will need to be created just to hold all the family chargers. Most Motorola phones now have a standard mini-USB slot from where they can charge, and so do most Windows Mobile Smartphones.
On a more serious note, this surplus of incompatible chargers is beginning to create a lot of waste that can be completely done away with, when all chargers go standard and are compatible with each other.
This move by the Ministry of Information Industry has been in the right direction and I hope other governments also realize that the benefits are for everyone. Considering the fact that most phones are manufactured in China, I can imagine this happening sooner. I’m really through with having three different chargers for each of my phones, even though they are all from Samsung!
To think no one thought about this in the age of iPod is plain ignorant! The company perspective is: USB chargers would act as a substitute to the conventional chargers. Not one mobile manufacturer would wanna do that. Simple economics! It is actually that simple.
