Universal phone charger

Sometimes it seems we are drowning in different standards. Nokia users are lucky, in that there’s often a spare knocking around the office, but a universal standard would be even better.

Anyway, China is such a huge market that this move will have a knock-on effect on the whole industry. China has 450 million mobile subscribers out of a population of 1.3 billion – a tempting target for western brands. With a quarter changing their phone every year, that’s a lot of chargers.

There are some disadvantages with the Chinese plan, though. While the familiar mini-USB connector it has chosen is commonly used, it is bulky enough to be intrusive in forthcoming ultra thin handsets.

In reaction, the Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP), an industry body including both network operators and handset manufacturers, has taken the Chinese ideal and refined it. Instead of mini-USB, it has defined micro-USB as a new industry standard.

Micro-USB is thinner than the usual mini-USB, which makes it easier to fit into small form factor handsets – albeit at the cost of some robustness.

Using USB for recharging makes a lot of sense in principle. It provides a readily available charger in most locations – from desktop and laptop PCs to electric cigarette lighters with a USB socket on the back. It also combines this with an already standard data connection.

But there are downsides for manufacturers too. They will have to ensure that their handsets always contain 5V compatible charge circuitry, rather than optimising the charging circuit for the battery voltage used in a particular platform. And they will no longer be able to sell special data cables or chargers at the traditionally high margin.

But with the gradual move towards USB anyway, and the ready availability of cheap third-party accessories, the latter point is becoming less of an issue. And as Nokia has publicly backed the standard, it looks pretty likely to be adopted.

If so, we could see a world where we cut waste waste by removing the need for consumers to change their charger whenever they change their handset, and so cut the cost and weight of boxed handsets as no charger need not be supplied, just a USB cable.

The only loser might be the independent dealers who get some useful revenue from selling those extra third-party chargers that we all stash away in glove compartments and desk drawers.

Nokia maps out a future in GPS

Nokia is getting serious about GPS technology. Following its acquisition of navigation software supplier Gate5 last year – which led ultimately to the mapping capabilities of the N95 – Nokia has now announced its intention to purchase NAVTEQ.

NAVTEQ is a major digital mapping supplier, whose data is used by many major GPS manufacturers, including market-leading companies such as Garmin.

As Nokia is now one of the world’s leading digital camera and MP3 manufacturers, bidding to become one of the leading navigation vendors makes sense – especially when that ambition ties in with its stated internet services strategy.

Of course, this move will put Nokia into competition with companies such as TomTom – the current king of portable in-car navigation. TomTom has started to extend its reach into the mobile arena, but currently only by integrating Bluetooth handsfree capabilities into its devices.

But there is another reason to believe that Nokia and TomTom will go head-to-head: TomTom is buying its own mapping supplier, Tele Atlas (which, incidentally, supplies Google with its mapping data).

Assuming both of these deals succeed, this will put the two leading suppliers of mapping data in the hands of device manufacturers.

It shouldn’t prevent competition. Tele Atlas has stated it will continue to supply other customers, and there’s no reason to suppose that NAVTEQ would not do the same.
But there will be consequences for rival device manufacturers. Mapping data accounts for around 30 per cent of the cost of navigation devices. Owning a map company means a manufacturer like Nokia would ba able to cream off profits from supplying its rivals, but also use its ownership of the mapping data to undercut them.

Such a move will therefore be a major worry for companies such as Garmin, which must now be feeling the squeeze. Significantly, the day that Nokia announced its intention saw Garmin’s shares drop more than 10 per cent.

News Flash

Adobe has just released the latest version of its standalone Flash Lite media player. The only problem is that not everyone will be able to use it.

Adobe’s Flash media format is such a de facto standard that nowadays many people don’t even realise that they are using it to access content online. But this does bring problems for mobile users. Flash needs dedicated player support, which needs to be built afresh for each individual platform – you can’t simply use the desktop player.

Adobe has gradually been increasing support for mobile. Flash Player for Pocket PC embeds itself seamlessly into Pocket Internet Explorer, while Flash Lite works with Symbian S60. But this is still a minority of devices.

For the lucky few, however, the release of Flash Lite 3 offers some nice new functionality.
The headline addition is the ability to handle streaming video from content sites such as YouTube.

In addition, there is better compatibility with the latest versions of Flash for the desktop, allowing users to view videos directly rather than having to go through the laborious process of downloading them to a PC and converting them for mobile use.

Maybe in a few years Flash will be the de facto standard on mobile too, so we can all take advantage of it.