A new pilot program will be launched in the UK in the near future, with the operator O2 and those from HTC agreeing to sell a future smartphone without a charger. The terminal will have a charging cable, but the charger will be absent, users having to use an old charger or charge it directly from the computer. The ones from O2 they stated that they do not want to increase the "population" of 100 million unused chargers, but also that they want to reduce the price paid for the transportation of terminals, so a future HTC device will be sold without a charger.
"I have a simple vision for O2: we want to take chargers out of boxes full stop," said Ronan Dunne, CEO of O2. "Right now, O2 with HTC has to go it alone on this matter - we both believe in it passionately enough that we can't wait for the industry as a whole to join us in this crusade. That said, we hope that we will be able to pave the way for others to follow us as this has to be a collective effort if we are to achieve the bigger aim of eliminating chargers sold with every new phone in the UK."
The operator's initiative is very interesting, but I don't know how many users will embrace the idea of buying a smartphone without a charger when they sold their old terminal with all the accessories. Some people will be delighted with the idea, others will avoid purchasing a device from O2, others will complain about this pilot program to consumer protection bodies, but I think the idea is good. It will be interesting whether the new HTC smartphone will be sold without such a thing and what sales it will have with the operator. I'm more curious to find out how many curses Apple would have received if it had an initiative like this.
