[LINK] The 'Sea Snake' Phenomenon: 'Please Explain'

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Fri Sep 24 10:07:14 AEST 2021


EU wants USB-C charging port to become standard for all devices
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/eu-wants-usb-c-charging-port-to-become-standard-for-all-devices-570274

IPhone and Android users have long complained about having to use
different chargers for their phones. The former is charged from a
Lightning cable while Android-based devices are charged using USB-C
connectors.

Half the chargers sold with mobile phones in 2018 had a USB micro-B
connector, while 29 percent had a USB-C connector and 21 percent a
Lightning connector, according to a 2019 Commission study.

[European] Commission industry chief Thierry Breton pointed to the
ungainly sight of multiple charging cables.

"My job is to kill off these sea snakes whenever I can," he told a news
conference.


[ I'm bemused by what seems to be a storm in a tea-cup.

[ But maybe it's a comprehension problem arising from me being a
non-handheld user.  And, moreover, I'm a person used to rats-nest
cabling, since 1967 under floors, and since the mid-70s in closed rooms
at work and behind individuals' desks.

[ Maybe there are lots of people who use both an iOS device and an
Android device and hence need cables with different connectors?

[ But if they have, say, a tablet and a phone, don't they use two "sea
snakes" in any case, even if both have the same connector-type?

[ And is it really technically impossible, or too expensive, to contrive
the means for a single cable to service multiple delivery-points, with
different connectors on each of the terminal-cable-segments?

[ I'm less convinced by Apple's 'constraint on innovation' argument than
I have been in other contexts.  (Power-supply to small devices would
seem to be a reasonably mature field now, with limited innovation
necessary - until of course the unwired-power problem is overcome, in
which case the 'sea snakes' quickly become extinct).

[ OTOH, '*unjustified* constraint on innovation' is pretty silly. ]


-- 
Roger Clarke                            mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
T: +61 2 6288 6916   http://www.xamax.com.au  http://www.rogerclarke.com

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University



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