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On this day 11 years ago, the European Commission promised a unified charger for all smartphones. This never happened. Here is the reason why. #commoncharger
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Back in 2009, Commissioner Verheugen got the major mobile manufacturers in the room and made them promise to unify the hodgepodge of charging plugs that previously had made it impossible to use chargers made for other devices.
The EU's initiative had some success - almost all Android devices shifted to micro-USB, which still is today the de-facto standard for inexpensive devices.
After the EU parliament's angry protest against Commission inertia over the #CommonCharger for phones, Apple re-released a year-old statement to media, claiming that "consumer harm" from a standard plug would amount to 1,5 bn euros. reuters.com/article/us-eu-…
Seriously, Apple?
Seriously, Apple?
The FT points out that Apple made $24.5bn last year with iPhone accessories including chargers. They can absorb any cost from re-design easily, while the medium-term benefits of unified equipment should be immediately obvious. How shameless can you be? ft.com/content/6bd514…
For clarity's sake, the 1,5bn figure is a new claim, but the weird argument that standardisation somehow leads to consumer harm Apple already a while back here: ec.europa.eu/info/law/bette…
This picture shows a USB-C plug that Apple uses for its tablets, but not the iPhone. Why not introduce USB-C as standard for all chargers, for phones, tablets, cameras? #commoncharger
Last night the European Parliament debated that question. Here's the catch.
Last night the European Parliament debated that question. Here's the catch.
The EU Commission first promised a common charger in 2009, eleven years ago! This is Commissioner Verheugen, now long retired. But the Commission insists to this day that manufacturers must do this voluntarily. Which of course they never did, at least not all of them.
Apple insists on its own proprietary standard called Lightning. They have lobbied heavily to keep the EU from legislating a common standard and have deployed all kinds of tricks, including their own studies. For more, read here: euobserver.com/science/144538
