Ten companies, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Apple, Motorola, Texas Instruments, RIM, and Samsung, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission in Brussels to develop and standardize on a universal charger based on the micro-USB connection. These chargers will work with data-enabled mobile phones that support USB data exchange.

According to this article in the BBC, “Currently there are more than 30 different types of chargers for handsets throughout Europe. EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen says he also wants to see the common charger expand in the years ahead to cover other phones, existing phones, cameras and laptops.”

It will be interesting to see how the move to a universal charger plays out vs the option some devices, like the Palm Pre and the new iPhone, have for optional or add-on wireless charging. (Don’t miss iFixit’s excellent tear-down of the Pre Touchstone wireless charging option.) Are users looking for the convenience of tossing their phone onto a charging pad (in spite of the inefficiency of the power transfer in wireless charging) or are they really after the simplicity of having One Charger to Rule Them All and not haul around different chargers for different devices? I’ve heard a rumor that Brian Dipert has a wireless charging adapter from WildCharge for his new iPhone and is running a rigorous hands-on testing program…

[EU MOU heads-up courtesy of Matt McKinney at TI…]