And One Charger to Unite Them All!

I didn't buy the optional car charger for my cell phone because I work from home, seldom have long phone conversations and, well, I'm cheap. But I also (incorrectly) assumed I could borrow my wife's car-compatible phone charger since we are on the same account. Since we have phones made by different manufacturers, however, we need different chargers.

Just imagine if every computer peripheral required its own proprietary kind of connector cable instead of the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard that keeps things simple? The only ones laughing all the way to the bank would be the cord manufacturers.

Now we can all exhale.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has just approved a standard for cell phone chargers that will do away with the dizzying array of chargers that clutter our digital world, according to BBC News and widely reported elsewhere. BBC points out that 51,000 tons of redundant chargers are produced every year, so this will cut down on waste as well as expense and frustration.

The new charger standard consists of a mini-USB connection, just like the portion of the cord that connects to most digital cameras. It won't be mandatory but hopefully adoption of the new standard will be seen as a smart business move.

This raises a question: Will the chargers be sold (or given away) as an option by phone manufacturers or will they continue to be bundled with every new phone, thus continuing the glut of unnecessary hardware? In any event, it's a great day for cell phone users.

Photo courtesy of Mmckinley, via Wikimedia Commons