While a number of you probably celebrated Earth Day yesterday by driving to work in second gear (or was that just us?), the folks at CTIA made themselves a little more useful and released a statement supporting micro-USB as the standard for the "Universal Charging Standard" initiative.
Developed by the Open Mobile Terminal Platform industry standards group and recently adopted by the GSMA, the UCS aims to reduce energy consumption and enhance the customer experience through the adoption of a single “one-charger-fits-all” solution for new wireless devices by January 1, 2012. The UCS will use the Micro-USB format as the common universal charging interface, and use energy efficient chargers in compliance with U.S. “Energy Star” requirements for external power adapters that will provide an estimated 50% reduction in standby energy consumption.
Sounds good to us. But another 2½ years before any standard would go into effect? Sigh.
