A recent study has found that more than 80% of the customers walked out of the store without buying a charger with their device.According to O2,it was time to make a push for curbing phone chargers and stop selling it to the customers in the box.The customer probably has many chargers piled up at his home.
O2 is urging its competitors to phase out chargers in mobile phones by 2015 and respond to the environmental argument.A study shows the willingness among customers for taking a phone charger-free. According to Ronan Dunne,CEO O2,it is now time to take the chargers out of the box for good.
A universal micro-USB port and charger are shipped today with many handsets and as the customer buys those products,the USB chargers start piling up.UK is already swarming with unused USB chargers and the number could cross 100 million.Moat of these chargers could well be used for other products. So, why sell them another charger when they might be having a one they can use at home?
O2 is not the only organization that has drawn attention on this subject.The European Union in 2011 had taken initiatives to reduce electronic waste and encouraged companies to make a universal charger.This would result in lesser number of companies making chargers,thus helping the environment by reducing waste.
There are several of those well known brands like HTC,Nokia and RIM that offer micro-USB ports in their products, surprisingly,Apple does not.The company has used a company exclusive charging Dock port that is not compatible with the micro-USB.Earlier, the company had agreed to shore up a common charger by January 2012.But apparently,nothing much seems to be happening in this arena.
O2 argues that we need a considerable reduction in chargers so as to help the environment.