In 2012, Your Charger Will Fit My Phone

Why didn’t they think of this 200 million junked chargers ago? At a meeting of the mobile phone industry, a sudden agreement was reached to one of the most vexing and frustrating aspects of owning a cellphone. How do you charge it and how come the chargers are all #$*! different?

The makers of phones have heard your complaints and are feeling guilty that their industry generates more than 50 million tons of waste a year. These are the old chargers we throw way, to the tune of 48-51 million a month, according to the story in last week’s WSJ by the AP.

As of 2012, there will be simply one cellphone charger, say 17 different manufacturers of handsets. The new standard chargers will have a USB interface, and with its energy savings features, it will use half as much juice. This will cover AT&T, Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Vodaphone’s units.

Hopefully, the Mac iphones will follow suit in this very logical and “about time” idea.