UPDATED: European Union: One Phone Charger Shall Rule them All
UPDATE: Engadget is reporting micro-USB vs. the BBC’s mini-USB. Also, that Apple, among others, is backing the standard.
ORIGINAL: We’ve discussed this before, but now it looks like Europe has gone ahead and done it. Mini-USB is going to be the “one size fits all” universal charging standard for phones. The caveat:
The deal isn’t legally binding though and, at this stage, is only voluntary.
Translation: Apple’s 30-pin dock connector likely isn’t going any place, any time soon.
Are we happy about this? Are we wondering why it wasn’t micro-USB? Or do we really not care one way or another about it at this point?
[via the BBC, thanks sambell for the tip!]
June 29th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Engadget is reporting that they decided on micro USB. Who’s wrong?
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/06/29/nokia-apple-rim-and-others-agree-on-micro-usb-phone-charger-st/
June 29th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Hmm, BBC is usually reliable but Engadget knows their tech… I’ll update to note the discrepancy, thanks!
June 29th, 2009 at 10:09 am
This really is long overdue. This should have been done years ago. However, how will cell phone stores make money now that they can’t sell you 2 or 3 $35 chargers everytime you buy a phone?
Now, if we could only get Europe to agree on a standard wall outlet…..
June 29th, 2009 at 10:10 am
The BBC has now changed their article to micro-USB so my guess is that it was a mix up
June 29th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Micro, Mini… doesn’t matter to me! I hate the proprietary connector dock on the iPhone. Hopefully it gets replaced next year with the new model iPhone.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:55 am
joeMG – Europe has a standard wall outlet, except on some islands.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:48 am
@JoeBis
The UK is different than Germany. That’s all I know. I guess that counts as “some islands” though.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:52 am
i wish all small electronics would get the same plug whether it be micro, mini or something else as long as they are the same
June 29th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
i’ll just repeat what i said the last time TiPB posted about this.
“the actual connector isn’t that big an issue. if forced by EU law, apple can always just ship iPods and iPhones with 30pin to miniUSB adapters, or switch over to miniUSB and provide dock adapters for vehicles and accessories built to the 30pin ’standard’.
the bigger issue is that Apple currently restricts which accessories can actually interact with their devices, extracting royalties from those that do. even if Apple puts out a 30pin to miniUSB adapter or switched to miniUSB it wouldn’t mean much, because they still would control which devices and accessories would work with the iPod/phone.”
June 29th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
@Striatic:
I don’t think Apple would switch over to mini-usb on the device at the expense of the 30pin. If Apple switched to mini-usb, they would certainly lose some functionality of the 30pin.
I see no reason they could not add another socket on the edge of the device and run it in parallel with the usb pins in the existing dock connector.
They could issue a 30pin to female-mini-usb adopter, but this sort of defeats the purpose of this legislation, because you have to carry around the adopter.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
no prob for the tip! to me it really doesnt make a difference, and to be honest. i’d say on average, more people would know what im asking for if i said you got a spare apple lead rather than a mini/micro usb? most people i know would only have one for a ps3 controller… not much else. not everyone is tech minded like me.
the only big prob i can see it causing is for existing products. imagine having a bose dock and it suddenly rendered useless. even with an adapter it wouldnt be the best solution and it would take from the whole look of the machine. its an interesting story.
June 30th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Apple will ship a micro USB to dock connector adapter that will allow charging only. This is far less of an annoyance to me than the fact that more than half of my car chargers / ipod docks no longer charge my iPhone because they somehow are using the old firewire based charging method. Ugh the one downside of going from an iPhone 2G to the 3GS…
June 30th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I’ve gone through two sync cables since I bought my iPhone.. I would love to see a different type… One of the cables started pulling apart at the USB end.. and the one i’m using now is pulling loose from the dock end….