Image © GSM Association
Since the middle of Feb. 2009, hundreds of news outlets have been praising the mostly sweeping effort for a universal cell phone charger that's being led by the GSM Association (GSMA).
The GSMA "represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry," "spans 219 countries" and "unites more than 750 of the world's mobile operators".
The goal of the universal cell phone charger, which is based on a micro-USB interface, is to eliminate your need to have a different cell phone charger for each cell phone you own.
In the world of computers, one of the allures of using a USB peripheral is the benefit of "hot swapping". Hot swapping is sexy because it affords you the ability to connect and then disconnect without having to reboot the device.
Now the GSMA says most mobile phones on the market will support the universal charger by Jan. 2012, according to the IDG News Service. But who has signed on to play nice with the initiative, and perhaps more important, who hasn't?
On the phone and chipset side, so far we have LG, Motorola, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. On the operator side, we have 3 Group, AT&T, KTF, Mobilkom Austria, Orange, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telenor, Telstra, T-Mobile and Vodafone.
On the operator side, where's Sprint and Verizon Wireless? On the phone side, where's Apple, Pantech, BlackBerry, Siemens and Kyocera? The lacking Apple is especially concerning.
While Apple's all-powerful iPhone only represents approximately 1 percent of the smartphone market today, according to Popular Science, it'll surprise no one for that number to significantly grow by 2012. The lack of Sprint and Verizon Wireless can be considered concerning, too.
Stay tuned as this news shapes up. While the potential certainly is there, some gaps remain that need to be filled in order for this "universal" cell phone charger to be truly universal.
Comments