- Title: BELGIUM: Telecom firms back standard phone charger in Europe
- Date: 30th June 2009
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JUNE 29, 2009) (REUTERS) INSIDE MOBILE PHONE SHOP, MOBILE PHONE CHARGERS DISPLAYED DIFFERENT PLUGS ON DIFFERENT CHARGERS HAND PUTTING BOX WITH MOBILE PHONE CHARGER BACK ON SHELF DETAILS ON PHONE CHARGER'S BOX SHOWING COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER PHONES FROM THE SAME BRAND BOXES FOR DATA-ENABLED PHONES (BLACKBERRY) DETAILS ON BOX WITH CHARGER FOR DATA-ENABLED PHONE SHOWING COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER PHONE FROM THE SAME BRAND
- Embargoed: 15th July 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Belgium
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Industry
- Reuters ID: LVA7K79HTFOT6FF5GQN32HLJCXWD
- Story Text: A standard charger for data-enabled phones will be available from 2010, the EU Commission announced on Monday (June 29).
It means that from next year, consumers buying data-enabled mobile phones will be able to use the same charging device.
EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said ten major phone manufacturer agreed to share a standard charging device.
''...In the future, any cellphone will be compatible with any chargers,'' Verheugen said.
Verheugen said the new generation of mobile phones would use a standard micro-USB socket to ensure compatibility.
He estimated that unwanted phone accessories accounted for thousands of tonnes of waste in Europe each year, and said he hoped the creation of an EU norm would encourage others in the world to follow and adopt the same standard.
''We will discuss that with the Americans, the Chinese, the Indians and other big market because we believe that worldwide standards are better than just European and I see a very, very good chance that this will be a common standard very soon,'' Verheugen said.
The new charger will only apply to data-enabled phones, like Blackberry for example. Mobile phones with standard functions like sending SMS are not part of the agreement, Bridget Cosgrave, the general director of DigitalEurope who represents the phone manufacturers, said.
''The MOU (memorandum of understanding) is applicable to data-enabled phones. Now increasingly in the market data enabled phones become the standard but data-enabled phones is beyond SMS because SMS is a standard functionality in the historic mobile phones There are an estimated 400 million mobile phone in Europe, and 185 new mobile phones purchased each year, the Commission said.
Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments have signed the agreement, the Commission said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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