If only they’d thought about it in the beginning…

How annoying is it when you’re looking for an old Nokia charger with a slightly larger plug or you’ve got a Sony Ericsson and all you can find are Motorola chargers lying about – well that annoyance is coming to an end as a universal charger is set to hit the world in 2012.

The charger is said to use 50 per cent less energy than standard chargers, and will be available for use with most handsets, but not all – iPhone users will likely be left out in the cold with their own chargers.

The big names are behind the charger.

The move has got some big named backing as the likes of Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG have all jumped on the bandwagon.

Meanwhile, providers have also given their nod, as T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange, 3 and AT&T are all behind the proposed charger.

However, due to the extreme pressure for the plan to go ahead by the European Commission, it’s not surprise that the big names have backed the charger.

51,000 tons of duplicate chargers.

The greatest result from the universal charger is the fact that around 51,000 tons of duplicate chargers will be eliminated according to the GSM Association.

The news comes from the Barcelona conference as a number of wireless charging devices were unveiled recently which also claimed would be good for the environment, although how good they would be was vague.

“Obviously it was a diplomatic conversation.� It was always going to be when you bring competitive parties together, but once the technical specification and charging current were agreed, it all happened very quickly,” claimed Michael O’Hara from the GSMA.

Unbelievable waste…

The GSMA has also estimated that a staggering 960 million mobile handsets out of 1.2 billion sold last year were new handsets – imagine all the wasted chargers…

Through the move, manufacturers are hoping to cut toxic greenhouse gases in manufacturing and transporting replacement chargers to 21.8 million tonnes a year, down by 13.6 million – a huge slash.

According to a senior director at Nokia, Mitti Storckovius, “By supporting this industry initiative on common charging solutions, and enabling consumers to choose if they need a charger with every new device or can re-use existing ones, we can contribute further in improving the industry’s environmental footprint.”

Everyone’s behind the idea.

Meanwhile the concept has been gaining some strong backing from market analysts and experts in the field who have announced that the universal charger is an ideal product.

“A universal charger is well overdue, especially one that is as energy-efficient as this.

“The announcement from the GSMA isn’t just welcome from an environmental standpoint, but will bring immediate benefits to the consumer. Wherever you are, you’ll be able to charge your phone and stay connected,” announced an analyst with Omio, Ernest Doku,