There was a recent European Union regulation requiring all mobile phones to standardize on micro-USB for charging purposes to cut down on all the proprietary charging cables being produced.
As part of complying with this initiative, Apple has released an official adapter on the UK Apple Store page that converts their 30-pin dock connector to a micro-USB port for both charging and syncing. The adapter is slated to ship at the same as the iPhone 4S, available for £8.00, which is probably the cheapest price for an official Apple accessory. This adapter can be used in all iPhones except for the very first model. There are 3rd-party adapters available now that convert the dock connector to micro-USB, but this is the first official adapter from Apple. There’s no word yet whether this same adapter will be available in the US as well.
Via TUAW
