Why every country has a different electrical plug - awesome graphic
gizmodo.com
gizmodo.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_connector
C15/16 are widespread for grounded, C7/8 for non-grounded all over the world. I even use C16 distributers with C15/16 extensions to the devices at home (having moved repeatedly within Europe, this ended up being easier), but those are comparatively rare.
The article actually lumps almost all of Europe into one, which is an oversimplification. Leaving aside the Swiss and Italian systems, there are 2 at least types of grounded sockets in continental Europe, the Schuko and the CEE 7/5 (fr be cz pl, sk). Both are round with round and symmetrically placed neutral and live contacts, but the former has 2 springs at the side for ground, whereas the latter has a male ground prong. Luckily the plugs can be made to fit both (CEE 7/7), but that doesn't mean that all are. You may not have to worry about borders while travelling in Europe, but you still have to worry about plugs & sockets.
I'll give you some examples.
1. Power Adapters? Why do we need 50 different versions. Why can't every electrical product have 1 type of power supply?
2. Wheels - why do we need 20 different bolt patterns? Why can't every car company just make 1 bolt pattern?
3. USB cables, yes the USB that connects to your PC has the same end, but I'm talking about the end that connects to your camera, printer, fax machine, why can't they just have one type of connection?
For instance, few electronics travel outside the country where they're sold, and even for devices that do travel like cell phones or laptops, it's still easier to just buy an adapter than to choose a model based on its charging characteristics.
If something weird happened, like we all started being like Quantum Leap and the room we went to sleep in teleported to a new country every night, then the international plug problem might be worth fixing. But people would still probably just buy adapters as a cost of doing business and count on batteries to get them through the day. It just adds so little value.
I'm not even complaining about the actual power supply, I get that it varies, my complaint is that you can't use the same exact power supply(look identical) because the end part is a tiny bit different.
#1: If you come up with a new design, you get royalties if others use it and you don't have to pay royalties to someone else.
Ipod's dock connector is wide so it can physically stand the ipod, iphone, or whatever up when plugged in. So the physical design of connectors often serve purposes other than just to transmit data. And for this reason we'll probably always have proprietary connectors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Types-usb_new.svg
I've got various Card readers, HDDs, Hubs, etc. that take Mini-USB B, but I've never seen Mini-USB A or any of the micro ones in the wild. Apparently Micro USB will be used for charging mobile phones henceforth.
"why do we need" -- nobody said we do. What you don't need, you don't use. Easy.
Q: why are so many products in life have so many seemingly pointless variations? Answer: Capitalism.
Under alternative social structures like communism you tend to get only one option for any particular product as more than one option is wasteful unless it has significant variation in function.
If more plug adapters supported interchangeable ends, life would definitely be simpler. You can pick up kettle leads or figure-eight leads for $country quite cheaply, I guess. The transformers are the biggest pain. But as the article says - we're pretty much stuck with the system...