My million dollar idea for the day

Years ago someone told me (I'm reasonably sure I didn't make it up myself, even though it's possible) that the average person has 3 million-dollar ideas a year. That is, 3 ideas that could make a million dollars if they were actually done or invented.

Now necessity is the mother of invention, or so they say, and it certainly the motivator behind my idea.

About 12 months ago I needed a new mobile phone (after having my old one pinched, but that's another story). Like many people, I'd only ever owned Nokia phones. They were good and reliable and easy to use and you could get a decent one on pretty much any plan. But then something happened. The Samsung D500 slide phone had just come out on the market and I was instantly smitten. That very night I took home a shiny new black Samsung and have been very happy with it ever since. It does everything I want it to do exceptionally well and I am very attached to it. It may not have to be quite snowing in hell for me to be seen without it, but I would expect it to be getting towards the chilly side.

As with anything in this world, there's always a trade-off. After years of me and everyone I know having had Nokias, I was always pretty confident that there would be a Nokia charger to be found somewhere pretty easily if my battery should happen to have run down a bit further than I had realised. Plus I had a plethora of Nokia chargers...The ghost of mobile phones past...Of my own, so I could afford to have one in the lounge, one in the bedroom, one at work, one in my laptop bag, and a car charger.

Of course today my lovely sleek Samsung is running a little flat. I should have popped it on the charger last night, but completely forgot, and now it's down to the last bar. And Friday is always maximum mobile phone usage day (people to talk to, Friday night drinks plans to be made...You know how it is). And I'm at work. And I have one charger and one car charger. Needless to say, neither of them is here. And nobody around here has a Samsung charger. And even if they did, it's unlikely they will have had several Samsung chargers in a row and therefore have a spare to keep in their desk.

So you can see my dilemma. My necessity if you will.

Onto the idea. Actually, as I've been typing this it may have mutated into 2 ideas. Either would be a good thing.

Idea #1 - the universal mobile charger. How different can the technology in the batteries be? Surely it's only the attachment that's different. (I may be given a lecture the contrary from the battery-expert bf later this eve, but for now I'm sticking to my theory). Surely you could sell them through the office stationary catalogues? There'd definitely be a market. I know I'd consider investing in a spare charger more if I knew it would work on any future brands of phone I might buy. And if the whole battery thing is different, should there be some sort of regulation? Surely it's breaching some sort of monopoly rules or something (no, not the game. I'm trying to should like I know what I'm talking about).

Idea #2 - the retractable charger. Something like a vacuum cleaner cord perhaps? Maybe snapping open and closed so the bit that goes into the power-point (Yep, most definitely going to be told what the technical name for that is tonight) can actually be stored flat and inside the phone. How much of a competitive advantage would that feature give a phone over its competitors?? Lots I think.

So anyway. I think they're good ideas. And I've decided to be stubborn on this point. Even if I hear all sorts of responses about how neither of these things is possible, I still believe that they should be. And someone somewhere should just damn well come up with the technology to make it happen. That could be their million dollar idea. Maybe we could team up and both get rich. Anyone? Anyone?

Oh well. Guess I'll just have to try to use the phone as little as possible until I get home. A million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to anyway. Do you think I should adjust the saying for inflation?

J.