A new push for one charging standard may fry Apple's Lightning port
The European Commission is on the Silicon Valley juggernauts like flies on honey, dispersing fines left and right to Google and Apple, or threatening Facebook and some others with consequences if they don't comply with Europe's strict digital privacy regulations.
It's a force to be reckoned with, as it manages the telecommunication realities in an affluent 500 million people market, and last year abolished roaming charges across the Europe. Thus, when EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager speaks that phone makers should standardize their chargers, as agreed upon way back in 2009, Apple and the rest of the gang better listen. It turns out that the Commission has ordered a study to determine if and when punitive actions have to be taken against companies that refuse to standardize the chargers that go with their electronic devices, phones included.
It turns out that the EU has to deal with 51,000 tons of e-waste in the form of old chargers and cables, and it is now determined to enforce a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2009, and renewed in 2013, where gadget makers agree to agree on a common standard. Fast forward to 2018, and Apple is using its Lightning port, some are using USB-C, others are still on micro USB, and so on.
The word "study" shouldn't put Apple at ease since that's the last stage that the Commission uses to determine how to punish those who don't comply, and at the end of the process, there is usually legislation that will be enforced in one way or another. Could Apple get away with just putting another dongle in the box? Not this time, it seems.
source: Reuters
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