5 ms·
In its first incarnation the industry proposed micro USB as a charging standard. I think we can agree that's a pretty poor choice, connectors that break easily,
by speleding 4y ago
In its first incarnation the industry proposed micro USB as a charging standard. I think we can agree that's a pretty poor choice, connectors that break easily, only go in one way, and low power. So Apple was right to ignore it.
We would have been stuck with micro USB for eternity if it wasn't for Apple. I realise they may not have objected out of the kindness of their hart, but good thing they did.
- ahartmetz 4y ago> We would have been stuck with micro USB for eternity if it wasn't for Apple Amending laws takes much less time than eternity. Lawmakers are people, they can process information and make changes when appropriate. You can be sure that the industry will not forget to remind them when a change seems sensible.
- nfin 4y agotrue, but what you then loose is “natural selection”. Why? Because either a new standard is not allowed. Or it is allowed, but then highly probably just one… and the central planning way. One standard/product is worked on, one is accepted as the successo. No selection in the wild of the one that survives (depending of what we talk about, the survivor is sometimes the one that is technically better, sometimes it is the one that is cheaper, or faster in bandwith or latency or prettier, or …). This sometimes work ok for 1-2 successors, but the more times pass by, the more central planing (or lack of free market) fails. If one is very honest it has to see both sides of it. Both has their pros and cons (not equally weighted though). The regulated way has to be done as rarely as possible (very hard to decide when it is a good idea…)
- WastingMyTime89 4y agoThere are no “natural selection” of charging ports. It’s simply not part of what people consider when they buy appliances. Customers are mostly at the whim of manufacturers when it comes to these technical details.
- speleding 4y agoThey European Union still does not have a single 230V power plug, decades after being founded. The industry has been asking for it since forever. You, sir, are an optimist.
- MagnumOpus 4y agoRipping every single plug socket and outlet out in 80% of the living spaces in the EU is neither cheap nor popular, so "industry asking for it" will not be enough. Your comparison is a bad one.
- speleding 4y agoThe parent suggests that bureaucrats could simply change this unified charging port after a while. By that time there will be just as many USB-C ports as there are 230V outlets. Most of Europe already has a standard 230V plug (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko). It would probably be easier to get a unified 230V power plug than to change the USB-C port again after a decade.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 4y agoThe life cycle of cell phones is a bit less than for buildings and nearly all of the electrical devices that plug into them - the primary exception being rechargable electronic devices. So changing the charging port standard is WAY different than changing the outlet standard.
- whatwherewhy 4y agoMany electrical outlets now have USB ports... And now it's supposed to be USB-C... And then something else - it's going to be just as hard.
- Someone 4y agoBut there is progress; it has standardized on frequency and (sort-of) voltage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity#Standardization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity#Standardizat...: “Until 1987, mains voltage in large parts of Europe, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland, was 220(±22)V while the UK used 240(±24)V. Standard ISO IEC 60038:1983 defined the new standard European voltage to be 230(±23)V.”
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]