Apple supporting universal European handset chargers

Last week I ordered my iPhone 3GS from the AT&T Store (no Apple Stores out here in the boonies). Five days later it was ready to be picked up and I drove out to the mall to get it.

While the AT&T employee activated it and performed the soul-stealing voodoo that accompanies a new sale, a woman at the next counter was exchanging her own AT&T phone (not an iPhone). I only heard a part of her conversation, but it went something like this:

"Can I use my old adapter with this one?"

"No, m'am. You'll have to buy a new one."

"What about my car charger?"

"No, that will need to be replaced, too."

"Ugh. OK. I'll just throw them away."

What a nuisance. She's got to spend extra money and those plastic and electronic doodads will occupy the bottom of a landfill until The End Of Days. The problem is even worse in the Europen Union. Fortunately, a group of manufacturers, including Apple, is working to change that. Apple, Nokia and Research in Motion have agreed to support a European Union-backed initiative to standardize these devices across the EU. It's a good idea that would benefit consumers and the environment.

The agreement is limited to smartphones for now, but if all goes well, will be expanded in 2012. Good luck to everyone involved.

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Source: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/06/29/apple_other_ph…

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Accessories Hardware iPhone

Last week I ordered my iPhone 3GS from the AT&T Store (no Apple Stores out here in the boonies). Five days later it was ready to be...

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SIP

The Firewire chargers that came with the original iPods (mine came with the iPod-mini) were probably the best Apple produced, and worked well with the original iPhone and iPod Touch. The output was such that you could recharge your phone/touch in half the time it took the USB charger.

In fact I purchased three extra FW chargers at Â£1.99 each off eBay for the kids and it's all they've used. Our iPhone/iPod Touch accessories are still wrapped and in their boxes and are untouched.

With the intro of the 3G and now the 3GS, these FW chargers are no longer supported, so that once the whole family is on 3G/3GS, we'll be left with some brilliant chargers which we can't use. Given what I paid for them, I'm not going to get much for them, so they too will probably end up in landfill or the loft.

June 29 2009 at 7:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

icepod

A very interesting solution that I really like is that I have a Slider case from Incase, not only does it add to the battery life, but it also uses a micro-USB as charger port.

So anyone looking to fit in with the new industry standard can just get one of those!

June 29 2009 at 7:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ryan Morano

I don't like this. I'm content with having a dock connector because 9 out of 10 of my friends own iPods which i can charge at their house. Also, to rebut what was stated above, the only chargers that wont work for the iPhone that apple released are firewire cables, which haven't been bundled with, or compatible with the iPod line in years...

I'd settle for the dock attachment to be bundled with the phone, but I dont really care either way, because I have dozens of ipod usb cables, a car charger and wall charger that all work with my 3GS.

June 29 2009 at 3:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

EU regulators don't put up w/corporate BS, US does; when the US decides to clamp down on FCC, telecoms,etc. We'll finally get what we want without all the catch-22 nonsense.

June 29 2009 at 2:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

oliver hart

At least iPhone chargers are compatible with iPods too. That makes them a bit less pointless. And they'll never end up in a landfill. $20 all day on cl for an iPod/iPhone charger

June 29 2009 at 1:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to oliver hart's comment

crazypenguin

That is not completely true. SOME ipod chargers work with iphones, but a lot of the ones i have don't. The one that used to work with the 2g iphone that i kept in the car simply gives me "this device can not be charged with this charger" sign with the little yellow triangle. its sort of stupid. but what i'm trying to understand is that at the last phone developers confrence, whatever its called, apple was the only major smart phone company not to agree with this, so what changed?

June 29 2009 at 3:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

oliver hart

your theory seems to be flawed

i have an old school (2003?) ipod charger that works great with my iPhone 3G.

also, have you ever tried unplugging and re-plugging the devices that give you the error? i have a super old ipod remote (resembles an ipod shuffle) that would first give me that error but upon the second or third try, would then work with my iPhone. still got it and still works.

June 29 2009 at 4:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Bradley

Sounds like a great idea to me. It actually makes sense.

June 29 2009 at 1:28 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Johnny

So the question surrounding this story is: Will Apple build in a micro-USB port to iPhones or will they give/sell a dock connector to micro-USB adapter?

My vote is they will package an adapter in EU iPhones and sell it in the rest of the world. The adapter will most likely support charging only and need to be removed for syncing.

June 29 2009 at 1:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Johnny's comment

Mr Lizard

Yeah I'd agree with that. I doubt we'll ever see anything other than a dock connector on the phone itself.

More likely they'll be a dock connector-to-female micro usb adapter.

And I doubt it'll be free - the way things are going we'll soon have to pay extra if we want a box with our iphones!

June 29 2009 at 2:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Eric

Wohoo for the EU!

June 29 2009 at 12:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply