Comment: Apple fights against the standard charger mob

Apple has declined to join an initiative to standardise mobile phone chargers

The decision by the mobile industry to sign up for standard phone chargers is great news for the environment, as it will cut down on electronics manufacturing and waste. And it's great for mobile users as it will cut down on the number of unwanted, old phone chargers clogging up their drawers throughout the house and office. (Watch this video to see how I feel about all the various chargers I've got - this guy feels about cables as I do about mobile phone chargers).

The announcement was made earlier this week at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, and it's long overdue from my point of view.

The GSM Association revealed that 17 leading operators and manufacturers - including Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson - signed up last Friday to a proposal to use a standard micro-USB charging unit. The two noticeable absences were handset maker HTC and Apple.

So while as of 1 January 2012, you'll be able to switch from a Nokia to a Motorola phone without requiring a new charging unit as part of that purchase, anyone splashing out on a new iPhone or HTC device from that point will find that their chargers aren't compatible with those from other vendors.

I wasn't surprised to hear that Apple is one of the only handset makers that hasn't signed up to the agreement, having experienced first-hand Apple's approach to compatibility at the weekend.

I'm a big iPod fan, and am now on about my fourth or fifth model. I've recently switched from using one of the original nanos to the new curved design, and have been impressed so far with the latest version. That was until I tried using it in one of the many iPod speaker docks I've got dotted around the house.

Turns out Apple has updated the connector on the new iPod nano so it doesn't support FireWire charging anymore - but this also means my new iPod doesn't work properly with any of the different iPod docks I've already got, as they're all FireWire-based.

The JBL Radial model I've got works OK, as in I can hear music out of it. However, whereas my old iPod would be charging up while it was sitting in the dock, whether in use or switched off, the new version just comes up with the message: 'Charging is not supported with this device'.

I tried using another set of speakers by Logic3 to see if they could charge up my new iPod, but they didn't work either and I got the same message. So halfway through cooking dinner, I had to run upstairs and dig through my cupboards and drawers to try and find a separate iPod charging unit, and then put the iPod on charge for a bit, and then switch it back into the docks to hear a bit more music.

And that was on top of the fact that, with the Logic3 speakers, the iPod kept losing its connection while sitting in the dock and the song kept cutting out - leading to me going backwards and forwards between the oven and speakers laden down with hot pans to shove the iPod firmly back into the slot. Not exactly a seamless audio experience.

So I've either got to find new iPod speakers that don't charge using FireWire, and splash out on them instead, or carry on using the existing lot but always make sure I've got my separate charger with me and be ready to shove the iPod back into place in the dock when the connection goes and the music cuts out.

Come on Apple, can it really be that difficult to pick a standard and stick to it, or to just go with the rest of the industry?