[_StephenBB81]

Mobile phone companies within the European Union will soon make one-size-fits-all chargers.

Starting next year, mobile phones will have a uniform charger. The model, part of an agreement by at least a dozen phone makers, means new phones will no longer comes with chargers - and there will be less electronic waste.

It will also let owners easily borrow someone else's charger when the battery is low.

"How cool is that?" asked EU spokesman Dennis Abbot. "This will make a lot of people extremely happy."

He said the uniform charger is the product of an agreement by mobile phone makers such as Apple, Emblaze Mobile, Huawei Technologies, LGE, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research in Motion (RIM), Samsung, SonyEricsson, TCT Mobile and Texas Instruments.

The uniform charge will be available for all data-enabled phones, those that can exchange pictures, files, and music with a computer via a USB port. That covers just about all new cell phones models entering the market in 2011, said Abbott.

The Press Association: EU to have uniform mobile chargers

I'm sure this means microUSB, but maybe not, Notice they include Apple, who uses a 30 Pin port, for charging,

I'm not sure I am happy with the idea of my new phone NOT coming with a charger of any kind either, that is a little upsetting, I do hope that the phone would at least come with USB cable to connect to a PC then, and in turn a low cost Wall-USB converter could be used.

[Masahiro]

I have a ton of micro USB chargers lying around, so that won't be a problem for me if the same happens to NA. I'm surprised Apple hopped on board as well. They love forcing their own standards, same with Sony.

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[WSFrazier]

interesting

[jome]

Me thinks it won't be long before the US and the rest of the world adopt this standard.

Reason being that mobile phone makes such a Nokia, Motorola and others sell not just in the EU but the US, Asia, etc. So I would think it would easier, and cheaper, from a manufacturing standpoint, if they made ALL their phones with same charging port.

[Cigar-Junkie]

For years I felt verizon made more money on selling unique car chargers for each phone then the phones themselves. Over the years I have accumulated a drawer full of oddball car and wall chargers. Now its just micro and mini USB type ports. Would love to see all mobile devices go to one unified charging port.

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[SCrid2000]

I like the idea of using the same port for charging - I wonder tho if Apple will just throw in a charging port, and have the 30pin still for computer stuff?
Either way, I wouldn't like to get a phone without a charger cuz then I'd have to go buy a charger (assuming I didn't have an old one that worked, which is common in homes with little kids).

[Jake Storm]

I think it's a great idea to minimize some waste.

[sprint_fan]

Good idea, they are going to have to wait a few years before they stop including chargers, though, because some people don't have micro-usb chargers yet. I think that most phones these days are going to use the micro usb charging and data port though, which is great.