The 2009 Charging Mat Conspiracy

I ran into Paul a the airport last night and our desultory conversation on the recent Chargers victory morphed into a discussion of charging mats.  This is one of the tech industry's "buzz" products of this year and likely to be featured at CES in Las Vegas  in a couple weeks.  These nifty, efficient systems permit the charging of your gadgets without the hassle of connecting a power-charging wire.  That's right - a "wireless" technology. Brilliant!


Of course this is not an entirely new idea.  There have been lots of methods of charging devices that we use often and require virtually constant charging.  How many can you think of?  Well,  your car battery does not really count, but it's a novel system: the battery is needed only to start the car, after that a charging system consisting of an alternator, a voltage regulator and a battery.  Your car could run without the charging system for an hour, more or less, depending on what else you had running (such as the lights, heater, wipers, etc.).  But I digress.  


The car is a bad example because all the user needs to do is put gas in it and drive it.  The car tells you when to put gas in it.  If it needs a repair, it lets you know.  If it breaks, new ones have you push a single button and somebody comes and helps.  there are other items that need to be charged all the time, including the variety of gadgets below:


1. the battery for my drill - there are two, grab/swap and go
2. my logitech wireless mouse - it's an awesome mouse and I need to charge it (if I forget) once a week
3. electric tooth brush: this one (is also a clever one) and uses the same induction as the wireless mat
4. Cordless telephone: same principle as the mouse and drill battery; a stand with a physical connection
5. the Flip Mino HD - this one uses a USB charger, one button releases the USB connector

Then, there's the device I need to charge the most: my cell phone.  You would think the device that I touch the most, use the most (well the mouse is probably up there) and am always with me would have a desk style charger.  Nope.  With my cell phone (a Nokia flip) need to pry out a plastic piece the size of a pencil shaving with my fingernail to put in the mini USB charger:

Why is this? Why is the device that I need to charge the most often (plug/unplug at least once/day) is such a pain to connect?

I have concluded that there is a conspiracy by agents from the "wireless power mat" industry inside all phone companies to make it as hard as possible.  Otherwise why would it be this way?