Avenir Telecom and Energizer have announced the launch of their exclusive range of battery chargers for the mobile market. The partnership was revealed in February, with the charger range previewed at Mobile World Congress.

An increasing focus on advanced charging technologies (including solar-powered mobile handsets, solar chargers, wireless power units, fuel-cell battery charging products and public charging kiosks) means the value of this particular market is predicted to increase from around $1.5 billion this year to over $34 billion in 2015.

US-based technology protection and replacement company Asurion is recalling 470,000 counterfeit BlackBerry-branded batteries that have been supplied in refurbished devices. The company has received two reports of counterfeit BlackBerry-branded batteries overheating, causing minor burns to a consumer's finger and minor damage to a sofa and car seat.

Mark Bridge writes:

Welcome to TheFonecast.com for this week’s Carnival of the Mobilists, an itinerant online publication that contains the best mobile-focussed writing from the previous seven days.

The summer holidays may have reduced the quantity of online commentary for Carnival #234… but the quality remains unaffected.

Last February the European Commission said it wanted to see a universal charger introduced for mobile phones. It's a move that was supported by the GSMA, the ITU, the CTIA and a number of manufacturers.

The EC now says it expects the micro-USB socket to be used for charging on new phones from 2011. This will be standard on all new phones that are fitted with a mini-USB socket for data transfer with a PC.