Sure, experimenting is a great way to reach an optimum solution to a given problem.
Now please, go to your cellar and tell me for what kind of experiment are those 40+ different chargers that you have for all your devices, which most of them have exactly the same power requirements.
I would say that, in most cases, those chargers were developed in order to take that extra 1 EUR profit.
And that, *ing the customer, which somehow has been taking this mess for over 20 years.
> go to your cellar and tell me for what kind of experiment are those 40+ different chargers that you have for all your devices
Right now I can charge almost all my mobile devices (a phone, an mp3 player, a kindle and the batteries for my camera) with a single charger I picked up in a regular department store for ~15EUR (first set of rechargeable batteries included) and two standard usb cables which came with those devices and can also be used to transfer data. More, the charger is largely optional, I could just plug them into into my computer -- often connecting to put podcasts on is enough to charge the mp3 player.
Only my laptop really requires a separate, dedicated power supply. The 40+ different chargers are just remnants of my electronic history because the current generation of mobile devices didn't even come with the chargers (except for the htc phone, but it's a standard usb charger, I could use it with cables and devices other than the phone).
The experimentation phase is largely over and makers are converging. Sure, there will always be someone who diverges but it's the cost of progress (even if progress in this context means a prettier hole in your phone).
Without that interference in the invisible hand of the market, your cellar would be full with other 40+ chargers. All in name of 1€ profit.
Sure, it is in the interest of the manufacturers to use standardized components ... unless the customer can be fooled to take pain with minimum marketing effort. No manufacturer is going to sit down and put in their priority list the item "how to reduce the junk electronics in the basement of my customers". They must be forced to it, and if the customer is not able to unite, the voter must interfere - as is slowly happening.
> Without that interference in the invisible hand of the market, your cellar would be full with other 40+ chargers. All in name of 1€ profit.
At most my cellar would contain one additional charger for the phone. Other devices didn't come with a charger at all (some aren't even covered by the directive or were made well before its announcement). I guess in the name of 3€ of cut cost which coincidentally also reduces the number of junk electronics in my basement.
Now please, go to your cellar and tell me for what kind of experiment are those 40+ different chargers that you have for all your devices, which most of them have exactly the same power requirements.
I would say that, in most cases, those chargers were developed in order to take that extra 1 EUR profit.
And that, *ing the customer, which somehow has been taking this mess for over 20 years.