One to charge them all

Mobile phones are overwhelmingly spread in Europe. Data retrieved with Wolfram Alpha show 659.9 million mobile phones for a total population of 591 million; more than one mobile phone each. The biggest mobile phonemakers (Apple, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, NEC, Research In Motion, Samsung and LG) have just reached an agreement to introduce a universal phone charger, adopting micro USB technology.The first phones compatible with the new battery chargers should be launched in 2010.

While this agreement is obviously useful in reducing e-waste I would like to share a few things to consider:

1) To remain consistent with this decision, phone chargers should be sold separately from the phone

2) The same decision should be extended to every other electronic device (at least to the ones that could be easily made compatible with the new standard)

3) A conclusive report on examining mobile phones and health risks should be released

4) Mobile phones should all be equipped with multi sim capabilities, allowing the use of two lines on the same phone (a few phones are already using this, it means it is do-able and not too expensive either). This would contrast the emerging trend of having more than one mobile phone - (work phone + personal phone).