Standard Mobile Phone Charger Europe
The mobile phone industry has agreed to roll out a new pan-European standard phone charger from next year that supporters hope will be taken up around the world.
The European Commission has said it is eager to do away with the large number of charger models, which create a headache for users as well as generating several thousand tons of waste each year.
Following the agreement, the first inter-changeable mobile phones and chargers are due to hit the market next year, the European Union’s executive arm said.
The new standard is to be based on the micro USB (universal serial bus) connector that most mobile phones capable of transmitting data already have for connecting to a computer.
The commission estimated that it would take about three years for most mobile phones to be replaced with products that use the new standard once the new models become available next year.
The companies that signed the agreement cover 90 percent of the market with industry leaders including Apple, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research in Motion (RIM), Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Texas Instruments.