O2 UK says it’s going to sell mobile phones without chargers as part of a trial scheme with HTC. It’ll be offering a forthcoming HTC device with a USB connection cable but no mains charger. The phone uses the microUSB standard, which means it’ll charge via a PC and will work with many chargers for other devices.
Research from O2 suggests the UK has more than 100 million unused phone chargers.
Customers who don’t have a compatible charger will be able to buy one from O2 at cost price. The company says it’s aiming to reduce the environmental impact from new phones and hopes that other companies in the mobile telecoms industry will join this new initiative.
The CTIA, the European Commission, the GSMA, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) have all previously expressed a preference for the micro-USB connection becoming a recognised standard.
[O2 blog]