HP has rolled out a portfolio of wireless smart consumer and business printing solutions, to innovate the way people collaborate and print digital content on the Web.
This was revealed at the HP Imaging and Printing Innovation Summit 2010, held in Istanbul, Turkey.
According to the tech giant, the new printing solutions are designed to enable consumers, small and medium enterprises and large enterprises to manage and access digital content and convert information from paper to digital.
During the opening night of the summit, Ron Coughlin, HP senior vice-president for strategy and marketing, LaserJet and enterprise solutions group, said HP's decision to shift to Web-connected printing is the biggest announcement HP has made since the start of colour printing.
He explained that cloud computing, mobile applications and Web-connected devices have changed the way printing will be done in the future. He added that HP's competitors will soon be making similar moves into this space.
However, HP is not the only company eyeing this market. HP's competitor Lexmark, earlier this year released printers with touch screen interfaces that can directly connect to the Internet, send e-mails and print a document directly from an iPhone.
More than just printing
Coughlin pointed out that people want to do more with their printers than just simply print pages: “Mobile platforms are fundamentally enabling us to do very different things that we've been doing for the last 20 years.
“There are over 250 million smartphones being shipped out this year. Around 85% of smartphone users want to print using their mobile device. HP predicts that 12 billion pages will be printed via mobile devices by 2012.”
He explained that digital content will increase 10-fold in the next two years and printed content will triple in the next two years. In a survey conducted by HP, by 2020, 33% of all digital information will live or pass through the cloud.
Third party applications
He explained that HP has integrated third party applications into the printing devices that can be accessed via an LCD touch screen on the printer itself. The multi-function printers can also copy, scan and fax.
In addition, users can send e-mails via any smartphone to HP's PhotoSmart printers, directing the printer to print the documents or images.
Applications such as Google Maps, Facebook, e-readers, RSS readers and photo galleries can be accessed and printed directly from HP's latest printing range without being connected to a desktop PC or laptop.
“We've got 400 content providers that have signed up with the programme and the number is growing. Next year, we will begin rolling out country-specific content across Europe, Middle East and Africa.
According to Coughlin, HP is driving document collaboration and content management to be accessed on HP's latest printer range. “Printing has become a two-way process. Users can scan documents, convert them to PDF, upload them onto the Internet and collaborate online without the need for a PC.”
Coughlin added that last month, HP signed a collaboration agreement with Apple called AirPrint, which he said is a free update that enables consumers to use their iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch to wirelessly print documents and pictures via their HP printer.
Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice-president of the HP Imaging and Printing group, said: “We have transformed the flow of content for all customers letting them access, share, print and manage content virtually anytime or anywhere in the world.”
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