I saw this float across the wires yesterday. Apparently phone manufacturers are renewing their commitment to reducing the diversity of phone charging plugs.
To be honest I'm not too hopeful that they'll meet their goal on this (2012 for a standard interface—which is a little soon given the time to actually agree on how this will work, and to get suppliers moved over to building new units). And I'm sure the pressure to delay things to incorporate green technology will be pretty real, too.
But I'm absolutely ready for the day they fix this problem.
Is there any reason everyone couldn't just use a USB interface?
That's the direction they're heading, but it's a complex problem. The 2.5W that USB is rated for doesn't seem to be sufficient to charge some phones (my Samsung is one of them) so that needs the be fixed—I'm sure load detection is going to be important, too.
I've seen how standards are developed. It will take a while for the politics to work out, and to come to a conclusion that doesn't annoy any single party too much.
--D