Made to last.

"I would like to tell the mobile phone industry to go to hell, but they’re taking us with them."

All Charged Up: The Mobile Phone Industry Swindle
Words by Zarina Holmes

At last, the mobile phone industry plans to introduce a “universal charger” later this year. But why later this year, and why do we have to wait until 2012 for all mobile phones to be adapted to it? Zarina Holmes seethes at the hypocrisy of “built-in obsolescence”.

The mobile phone industry will be launching a universal charger later this year. It’s an effort to preserve the environment.

The announcement was made at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.

The charger will be using 50% less energy and relies on micro-USB connection.

Why has the mobile phone industry taken this long to act on a common-sense solution?

The answer lies in the capitalistic design philosophy called the ‘built-in-obsolescence’.

“Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence is the process of a product becoming obsolete and/or non-functional after a certain period or amount of use in a way that is planned or designed by the manufacturer,” according to Wikipedia.

“Planned obsolescence has potential benefits for a producer because the product fails and the consumer is under pressure to purchase again, whether from the same manufacturer (a replacement part or a newer model), or from a competitor which might also rely on planned obsolescence.”

The universal charger will be around for a while.

"The design industry was just as greedy in fuelling rampant consumerism and excesses."

While doing my masters degree in Design many years ago, I remember having to complete a project on incorporating built-in-obsolescence into a product.

For example, we don’t want a chair to be made to last. We want people to keep buying new chairs.

A chair has to fit the current trend, produced cheaply, and must come with a sell-by date. Not unlike fashion.

The concept of a universal mobile phone charger has probably been around for years. But it is one that is being held back by marketing decisions.

I am all for freedom of choice and expression of creativity, but we are now stuck with mountains of indisposable wastes, chargers included.

I would like to tell the mobile phone industry to go to hell, but they’re taking us with them.

It is hypocritical of us to pin the blame solely on the banking industry for the collapse of capitalism.

The design industry was just as greedy in fuelling rampant consumerism and excesses.

Design has been exploited as a marketing weapon for such a long time.

It has lost its soul along the way. It must now place ethics in the heart of its practice again.