Most chargers will be standardized by 2012
Cellphone manufacturers have announced that phone chargers will be universal by 2012, eliminating the need to buy a new and compatible phone charger with each new cellphone. Companies like Nokia and Sony Ericsson have said that concern about the environment, and for their customers, is behind the decision—but that hasn’t stopped critics from questioning why it wasn’t introduced earlier. “The key drivers have been a certain amount of proprietary operation to encourage brand loyalty, and also aesthetics—charging device connectors have become much smaller,” Richard Traherne, head of wireless at UK technology development firm Cambridge Consultants, tells New Scientist magazine. In fact, he suggests that the falling cost of micro-USB connections, which “enable commonality,” is behind the change, giving companies an opportunity to go environmentally friendly with little extra effort: “They would be crazy not to adopt a greener approach now,” he says.