Adapting to a new mobile connection

microusbGood news for mobile phone users in EU countries – a voluntary agreement by the major mobile phone manufacturers came into force in the EU on January 1 where all new phones announced for sale in the EU in the coming years must have a standard micro-USB socket for charging the device.

GHacks.net reports that the companies who have signed up to the measure – intended to reduce the number of chargers sold and discarded in Europe – include Apple, Nokia, Qualcomm, HTC, RIM, LG, Motorola and Samsung.

GHacks zeros in on a major point about Apple and the iPhone:

[…] It will be interesting to see how this impacts on Apple’s next iPhone as these phones have always carried proprietary hardware interfaces.  Will the next iPhone switch entirely to micro-USB, will it have a micro-USB socket alongside the standard iPhone connector and will any change only affect handsets sold in the EU?

A very good point. I’d add another: what about the huge ecosystem that’s built up around Apple’s mobile devices? Docks, music systems, accessories: there’s a huge global industry there that’s heavily invested in Apple’s proprietary interface. And not only Apple: look at all of the manufacturers who have proprietary interfaces.

A great opportunity awaits someone to make adapters for the adapters…

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Neville Hobson

Social Strategist, Communicator, Writer, and Podcaster with a curiosity for tech and how people use it. Believer in an Internet for everyone. Early adopter (and leaver) and experimenter with social media. Occasional test pilot of shiny new objects. Avid tea drinker.

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