“Lend me the charger”. It is not the motto of an advertising campaign but a frustrated dream for millions of users. It happens every day when somebody has a mobile phone with a discharged battery at the workplace and, although this person is surrounded by other cell phone users, nobody can help. And that is because all phones have a different charger or adapter. To solve this problem, the major European mobile phone makers have concluded an agreement with the European Commission in order to market an universal charger starting from 2010 (mid-year).
Micro USB is the standard connector that was chosen to be the universal connector. This is used by many laptops, cameras and MP3 players and will be included in all the data-enabled mobile phones that will be marketed in the next year. It is expected to be a standard for many years, too.
Companies that have signed the agreement are Apple, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, RIM (Blackberry), Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Texas Instruments. Those companies represent 90% of the market.
Actually, this initiative emerged in last February when 17 makers signed an agreement during the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona , Spain. The agreement establishes the universal charger will be available in 2012 at a global level. In this way, the Old Continent will be two years ahead of the established date and, next year, the European citizens will be able to get the charger. The official name of this initiative is Universal Charging Solution (UCS).
