When talking about global benchmarks, people use the expression "global standard." A standard means a benchmark. A standard is a promise that spans the economy, industry, and technology. Technological advances can create the need for a standard, but a single standard can also drive a leap tantamount to a revolution. Based on a survey of experts from industry, academia, research, and media, the National Institute of Technology and Standards and ChosunBiz selected the "top 10 standards that changed the world" and the "top 10 standards that changed the lives and economy of Koreans," and reexamine the role of standards. [Editor's note]
After computers began to spread in earnest to homes and corporations in the 1980s, people faced a new challenge: there were too many cables. That was because the cables to connect a computer to a mouse, keyboard, printer, and other devices were all different. It is said that even a PC and printer released by the same company had different ports. Consumers piled up cables like a mountain and had to find and connect the one that matched a specific device every time.
Intel developer Ajay Bhatt is also said to have resolved to create a single cable standard after seeing his wife struggle with consolidation between a computer and a printer. In 1994, with Bhatt at the center, Intel, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) jointly began full-scale development of the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard. Two years later, the first USB standard appeared in the world.
Thanks to the USB standard, people were able to connect computers and peripheral devices with just a single cable. As a result, demand for peripherals naturally increased, and manufacturers also enjoyed a windfall. However, the initial standard capped data transfer speeds at 12 Mbps. That is about 1.5 megabytes (MB) per second. Since then, standards supporting faster speeds have been developed sequentially. The latest standard's data transfer speed is up to 80 Gbps, said to be enough to move 10 gigabytes (GB) per second.
In 2012, as Apple insisted on its proprietary charging USB port, consumers faced a choice: add more cables or standardize all products to Apple's. Most Android smartphone and small electronics makers have applied the rounded-end USB-C type. Apple, by contrast, stuck to the flat, straight Lightning charging port. It was created as Apple's proprietary technology. USB-C is said to be faster than the Lightning port for charging and file transfers.
However, Apple adopted USB-C starting with the iPhone 15 models released in 2023. That is because in 2022 the European Union (EU) passed in a plenary session a bill to standardize the charging ports of all mobile devices sold in Europe to USB-C. The aim is to unify charging ports and reduce 11,000 tons of electronic waste generated in a year.