There are an estimated 400 million mobile phones in Europe, with 185 million bought each year. Until now manufacturers have all been using their own proprietary charging units, within my family alone all four of us have to utilize a different plug to charge our phones, luckily this madness is set to end.

The answer? Standardize with Micro-USB.

Along with Apple; Motorola, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments have also signed the agreement. Together they are accountable for around 90% of the phones sold/used in Europe.

I think instead of changing the dock style connector Apple has been using since the dawn of the iPod they will simply offer an adaptor to go from the dock connector to Micro-USB for charging purposes, which is fine by me.

Or next to the dock connecter Apple could include a Micro-USB connection in the next generation iPhones. It wouldn’t negatively affect the overall design of the phone one bit and I’m not in a habit of looking at the base of my phones anyway.

I’m really excited about it and think its only a good thing for all involved, manufacturers and end users. Finally you’ll be able to charge your mobile at a family or friend’s house without hassle.

Full story: Reuters reports