HP plans reign of ink from the cloud

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

...more useful on paper than on a laptop. And communication, printing out office documents for others to read.

We're looking at all three as digital workflows. That's going to be a critical part of the future of printing as we progress along rich digital veins.

Won't the dependence on web services lock people into your servers, or could I build a web service that's entirely independent of you?
The architecture we're designing, printing from the cloud, should let people deliver the services they want. Going wholly outside our system isn't possible right now. We have to make sure our device works out of the box, and for that to work it has to be seamless. We won't charge for these services, so there should be no reason for people to damage their ease of use by switching to a non HP-server.

We don't want to build an app store, as Apple has for the iPhone. We're going to build in a plug-in infrastructure that others can use.

And the same's true for inputting documents?
Yes, of course, so you can feed in documents to the cloud or services as well. There's lots you can do with that. If you think of our devices as all-in-ones — scanners as well as printers — then you can use them to inject analogue documents into the digital workflow.

How is this going to make you money?
Our business model is closest to that of Amazon's Kindle. They make a bit of money on the initial sale — money on the content, not on the connectivity. We want to delight our customers with what they get.

Printing has had an explosive growth in the past, so it has been fine leaving the users to decide what to do. The advantage to us to going in this new direction is that it is a differentiator that makes our printers more attractive.

Our services are better tied in to our output devices, like iTunes is to iPod, only we can work without a PC in a middle. No drivers, no software. We're entering the era of the driverless printer, and we want to be in the lead of that.

But you will have a very good idea of what people are printing when, every page and drop of ink...
We're getting involved with the privacy people to make sure we're OK there. We will know a lot about how the product is being used, the consumables, of course. In terms of security, we're going to have the right thing, full strong encryption from client to printer. We're lucky in that there are a lot of online storage services who've solved this already, so it's a known problem.

When will we see these new printers, and have you got a name for all this yet?
First fruits? End of the year, beginning of next. We have been experimenting online under the name CloudPrint, but we'll have to wait for the marketing people to come up with the real name.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

bordero

ike fuelband is great for every healthminded person ! to work out! theres this website called textme4free.com that you can use to text anywhere in...

7 hours ago by bordero on Nike's FuelBand wristband gamifies exercise
BrownieBoy

> I'm told it's somewhat annoying when people have their Macs stolen > and Apple stores treat the thief as the owner, but there you go. Ouch,...

9 hours ago by BrownieBoy on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks
Moley

@kevinmchapman. OK, I acknowledge that 'most' was a gratuitous throwaway comment as an afterthought and too presumptuous. As to proof, as you...

14 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Jack Schofield

@BrownieBoy > Works really well for thieves.... >> Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally >> irrelevant, even...

15 hours ago by Jack Schofield on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks
raskolnikof

fantastic that the so called piracy bills have been withdrawn. however, these anti-democracy supporters are still in the shadows so lets be alert...

16 hours ago by raskolnikof on SOPA, Protect IP support wavers in face of online protest
Tony Douglas

Please God no; teach them anything you like - thinking rationally, the uses and misuses of data, what data is and what it's not - but leave the...

18 hours ago by Tony Douglas via Facebook on Kids are the future. Teach ’em to code.
BrownieBoy

@Jack, > Works really well for thieves.... Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally irrelevant, even it were...

1 day ago by BrownieBoy on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks
bootlegger

Make that 13 people now - I got refused today at Manchester airport. I thought I was up to date on this legislation - I knew of the EU ruling from...

1 day ago by bootlegger on UK airport body scans will not be opt out
tinycg

Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...

2 days ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move
TerryRK

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

2 days ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Freebies202

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

2 days ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source
kevinmchapman

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

3 days ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Marg Menzies Harrison

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

3 days ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
zdnetukuser

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

3 days ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface
Moley

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

3 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

3 days ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

3 days ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

3 days ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

3 days ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Dennis Nilsson

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

3 days ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany