HP says there will be no more drivers for printers

ZDNet has informed that HP has radical plans for the future of consumer printing, promising an end to printer drivers and the introduction of devices that just do not care at all what the user's platform is: Windows, Linux, iPhone or anything else.

According to HP's representatives there's a significant move to authoring and editing digital content. This trend offers new business opportunities for HP to develop a new way of printing. The company describes its idea as follows. The user takes his printer home from the store and plugs it into the network. The printer is registered with HP's servers over the Internet. When the user starts printing the information is sent to the servers and those send the output to the printer. In the end it will not matter much what the working tool is (iPhone or a laptop), it's a Web service and users will print provided they have connection to the Internet. This is the basis of the so-called cloud printing process developed by HP.

HP gives the possibility to print from BlackBerry

Cloud printing will be used in printing from BlackBerries. HP and Research In Motion (RIM) announced they are establishing a strategic alliance to deliver a portfolio of solutions for business mobility on the BlackBerry® platform.

HP will soon be demonstrating two new solutions – HP CloudPrint for BlackBerry® smartphones and HP Operations Manager for BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

HP CloudPrint for BlackBerry smartphones is a web services based solution that allows users to print emails, documents, photos and web pages using a BlackBerry smartphone, wherever they are – in the office, at home or on the road.

The CloudPrint service enables mobile users to easily print to the nearest printer. The service is printer-agnostic and driverless and requires simple Internet access. HP and RIM plan to make CloudPrint available to BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers as well as BlackBerry Enterprise Server customers.

So, the first step is made to offer cloud printing to the market. We just need to see whether this new type of printing will be accepted or not by users.

Key words: BlackBerry, HP, cloud printing, partnership