We have all been there before; the cell phone needs charged and the battery charger has grown a pair of legs and walked away. It would seem like a simple idea to just grab your spouse’s, friends or roommates charger to save you from a complete breakdown, but up until recently, the cell phone companies had other ideas.
Cell phone companies in Europe recently agreed to manufacture a universal charger that will work with any mobile device sold in Europe. Great news for those of you who live there, but for those in the United States, you are probably wondering if you will ever see this product on the market. Yes, rumors you may have heard regarding a universal cell phone charger coming to the market in the United States are true, but you will have to wait awhile .
The leaders at the major cell phone companies in the United States say that they will be working on a universal charger that should be available by the year 2012. This means that no matter what type of cell phone or mobile device you own, you and anyone that you know will be able to use the same charger . Of course there is always the exception and in this case the exception is Apple. Apple, who manufactures and sells the popular iphone decided to not enter into the agreement. For those of you with a mobile device from Apple, you are going to need to continue to keep your charger under lock and key so that it does not get lost. Apple users can always hold out that the company will change their mind at some point before 2012 though it doesn’t seem likely .
From a consumer standpoint , this is an agreement that should have been put into place years ago . From a business standpoint, a universal charger means that cell phone companies will be losing money on selling extra accessories, but it is a small price to pay in order to keep customers happy. Rather than having to order, pay and wait for another charger in the event that yours is lost, you can simply borrow one from someone you know. It will also make it easier to find a new charger if you lose yours and cannot borrow one from someone else. No matter where you live, you should be able to walk into any cell phone carrier or electronics store and purchase one. This is great for those who live in small towns who may not have access to products offered by their cell phone carrier at their fingertips.
It would be nice of cell phone companies would take this agreement a step farther. For cell phone users, a universal Bluetooth device and memory storage card would be a handy addition to the agreement, but nothing is on the table as of the current date. So for now, you should still be hopeful that you never lose your cell phone charger, but in the future your mobile life is going to become a little easier. It is going to be interesting to see if the universal charger will open the doors for other universal device trends.