the lady at the verizon store told me when i bought my galaxy s3 that the gov't mandated some sort of standardization of chargers. something to do with filling the landfills with old chargers.
it makes sense, it was way out of hand, every time you buy a new device you had to buy a new charger. now they're all moving towards micro usb. i can use the same charger to charge my phone, my headset and my bike light.
somehow apple is exempt. they still have a different, proprietary charger every time they come out with a new iphone.