Europe Adopts Universal micro-USB Cellphone Charger Standard
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Ever lose your cellphone charger? When your doomed search for friends or family with a phone of similar brand/vintage eventually fails, it’s off to the third-party charger vendor where confusion and high prices await.

We can all agree, then, that proprietary charger plugs are among the larger pains in the respective behinds of cellphone users everywhere. But not so anymore in Europe: the EU is leading the way to create a standard micro-USB charger for all cellphones sold.

Currently there are around 30 different charger types in the EU alone, and the European Commission wants to reduce that number to just one. Today most of the largest mobile carriers have signed on to support the change including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple (bye bye dock connector?), LG, and many others. This conversion would cover about 90% of mobile devices in Europe and should be rolled out beginning next year.

This shift towards a micro-USB standard is already supported by some international organizations that oversee mobile communications, so its adoption beyond Europe is fairly likely. It’s about time.

[Reuters via Engadget]