Proprietary connectors.

Ever forgotten your phone charger while travelling?  What about your video camera?  Ever since Microsoft and Intel along with a few others released USB on the public in 1996, there has been no purpose for proprietary connectors.  When I got my first cell phone, I was excited to hook it up to my computer to put free ringtones on it.  Should have been easy right?  No.  I had to buy some cable from Samsung just to plug it in and put music on it.  I had that phone for 3 months, after which I switched to an LG phone, and thus, needed a new different cable.  Nowadays, most manufacturers (Ahem, Apple), have switched to Micro or Mini-USB for charging/data.  Instead of having to carry 8 chargers with me when travelling, I only need 2.