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EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

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Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#331

Post by vineyardmike »

iSnow wrote: post #123
jariel wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The only reason this happened is that one company refuses to play ball" No, not at all. It happened because legislators in the EU don't understand tech, don't understand re-cycling, don't understand the industry, but they all use iPhones+Androids and wonder why 'there are so many goddam cables'. It's a very specific problem that just happens to be visceral and immediate with the people in charge: they can all relate…

Haha, I've been around when tech-illiterate regulators from the EU weren't around to stymie innovation in the oh-so important field of power connectors. In fact, I still have a box full of wall-warts from at least 5 phone manufacturers, and not one would fit on a different maker's phone. In fact, for some producers, the power plugs were even different for different models. Yeah, I so miss those days.

I have a box full of USB C dongles that hints we may always have boxes of cables.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#332

Post by tootahe45 »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #132
nemothekid wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I remember, this piece of legislation has been floating around since USB mini. We have now gone through 2 revisions to a connector that is now reversible and can carry video. Locking onto USB-C now could be a very "640k ought to be enough for everybody" moment. And if Apple was going to switch to USB C anyways, whats the point of this legislation?

You are misunderstanding. The idea is that manufacturers are free to do USb D, E... Z, they just have to all agree on whatever is their next thing. It also is just a charger, they can do whatever they want with data.

Why bother innovating in this area then if it provides no advantage for an individual company?

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#333

Post by vineyardmike »

SavageBeast wrote: post #260

Great, a phone charging semantic designed and mandated by a committee of EU bureaucrats. The jokes just write themselves here. Apple will no doubt bravely respond by removing the charging port completely. Wait until these folks hear about the Qi Standard!

2021: EU forces you to accept a pop-up on every charge to acknowledge you’re use of the charging functionality: explicit opt-in to charging.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#334

Post by alt_f4 »

kortilla wrote: post #327
thomasahle wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would I own any USB C chargers as an iPhone user? Maybe you own a USB-C laptop or tablet? Maybe even from the same company?

No? iPad Pro and MacBook sales are a drop in the bucket compared to iPhone.

And iPhone sales a drop in the bucket compared to Android phone sales. And they all have USB-C.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#335

Post by Havoc »

henryfjordan wrote: post #122
ac29 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This did happen 10 years ago, and they did standardize on micro-USB [0]. Use of the standard was voluntary, though. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_external_power_supply

And because it was only voluntary, Apple was able to innovate and create the lightning port which worked in either orientation and inspired the adoption of USB-C by the rest of the world

It's a ridiculous waste & entirely unjustifiable environmentally, innovation or not.

Dual orientation vs carrying two sets of dongles & cables isn't a net win either, so don't think the innovation argument sticks either.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#336

Post by Al-Khwarizmi »

scarface74 wrote: post #187
sho_hn wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I carry two phones, my private Android phone (my personal preference) and an iPhone imposed on me by work. Not having to bother with two sets of cables would be a welcome improvement. As for "not moving the needle", every little thing sums up. Also, it's not just the cables - manufacturing lines, shelf space, redundant labor, ...

So because it would be more convenient for you we need government intervention?

Yes?

I mean, I know from the American cultural point of view, government intervention is like a last resort, and you have to prove that it's absolutely necessary in order to apply it. Government is seen as an enemy and every one of its actions seen as a potential limiter of freedom, hence the right to bear arms (I hope it never becomes necessary, I suspect guns vs. drones and missiles wouldn't be a very fair fight).

But we are talking about an EU directive here. As an European, if the government makes regulations that make life more convenient for me (and other citizens), that's amazing, it's what I'm voting and paying them for. And I think most Europeans would see it that way.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#337

Post by Havoc »

_bxg1 wrote: post #125

I'm not someone who's shy about regulation, but even I think this is totally unnecessary. As an Apple user, I should be the first to complain about their own internal (inexplicable) lack of a standard (Lightning for phones, USB-C for everything else). It's annoying, sure, but it's far from a material burden on my quality of life. Is this really the problem we need to be spending our regulatory energies on in 2020?

>it's far from a material burden on my quality of life.

Sure. Now multiply it by half a billion people though (EU population). Suddenly considerations like "this creates e-waste" matter

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#338

Post by thu2111 »

dijit wrote: post #306
defnotashton2 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how you can think this is needed in the slightest unless you literally can't make a decision yourself. I'm sorry but you can buy a USB cable or adapter to charge any phone in the world at any gas station, or corner convince store. This just simply isn't a problem, it's not a quality of life issue. It's just not. Buy cables with breakout mini, c, and tbunderbolt for 5$. Solved. This type of regulati…

I don’t mean to imply that you’re young, but to say what you just said implies that you didn’t live the life of mobile phones pre-2004 (when the EU charging directive came in). Not only was every phone manufacturer having their own charger, often they would have different charging ports between models or product categories within the same brand! The landscape you’re describing now exists precisely because of this dir…

No it doesn't. The industry was developing USB and standardized it for power before the EU Commission started caring about this. What happened would have happened anyway due to economies of scale.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#339

Post by Al-Khwarizmi »

1023bytes wrote: post #316

Not even the wall outlets across the EU are standardised.

Because they're much more difficult to standardise. They would require each individual user to change all their plugs in their home, which is not even something the average person can do.

On the other hand, finding a different connector and cable when you eventually buy a new phone is seamless.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#340

Post by freepor »

visarga wrote: post #328
vineyardmike wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because not everything should be USBC, and not everything needs to be USBC. USB C won’t be the standard forever, and it’s a standard that takes many forms and has caused lots of confusion, so it’s not exactly the gold standard. USB C isn’t forever, eventually USB D will come around, and what’ll happen? The EU and their (often targeted anti-American-tech) laws will hold phones back, or leave themselves out of the mark…

EU isn't legislating USB-C, it's demanding that the industry standards body have a common standard for charging, and continue to develop it as a common standard. The manufacturers are going to be collaborating on the specs. It will be like TCP/IP, DNS, UTF and many other things.

But why does the EU bureaucracy know that charging ports cannot be an important part of product differentiation? I would hope they wouldn’t legislate a common screen size or a common operating system... why legislate a common charging port? I STRONGLY prefer Lightning and would hope that people who prefer Lightning like me can buy Apple and people who prefer USB-C can buy Android.
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