I remember that too, but I don't think that's how it will go down in this case. A mandatory EU standard has such tremendous weight that it will force a huge share of the market to comply. If the standard is actually any good, there will be no point in not complying with it in other markets. There is already a semi-mandatory EU requirement for micro-USB chargers which has reduced the number of cables that I need. If they standardize on the Lightning-like reversible next-generation USB (which is close to standardization, and looks good), then that's going to be the next universal connector.
