The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is the world's top show for the mobile industry.

Amidst all the new products, was this announcement in last month's show: 17 mobile phone makers and networks agreed to use one standard charger for their phones by 2012, with a micro-USB connector.

No two phones makers use the same charger today, not even for their own new models. “Help, I forgot my charger...anyone has a Motorola? Or the thin Nokia charger? or..”

After 2012, a single charger will work across Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and other handsets.

Wow! You can then buy phones without chargers. Any old (or new) charger will work. You won't have to junk your charger when you change your phone. If you accumulate multiple chargers, you can keep one in the office, and one in each room at home-and simply stop having to carry a charger for your phone. Go to a friend's place or any other office, and you know you can always plug in your phone to charge.

And you can buy cheap third party chargers. Sadly, that will kill the 300% margins Nokia and others have on their replacement chargers and accessories, but imagine the freedom for the consumer. In the long run, it does simplify life for vendors too, letting them focus on refining their core product, the smartphone.

And it will prevent 100 million working chargers being junked into India's landfills.

Prasanto Kumar Roy is president and chief editor (ICT Publications) at CyberMedia pkr@cybermedia.co.in

Some vendors opted out, notably Apple, whose iPhone is too sophisticated to rely on a generic connector. Oh, well. iPods and iPhones don't even let you change the battery if it dies, and their connectors are all proprietary. Where do you think those fat profits and CEO bonuses come from?

The microUSB isn't the most robust of connectors, especially if you try to force it the wrong way. (But used correctly, it can last for years.) And don't expect this standard to last five years. The rapidly evolving needs of smartphones, including high speed video and multimedia, 4G, and newer features will overtake microUSB.

Even so, three to four years of a standard connector and charger across the world's phones will do a lot to make life easier, and cheaper, for us mobile phone users.