Print on the Go with Cloudprint
Cloudprint is a free service that allows a user to share, store and print documents through a mobile phone interface. Here is how it works: a user “prints”, i.e. sends, documents to Hewlett-Packard servers that are connected to the Internet. Cloudprint assigns the user a document code and then transmits that code to the proper mobile phone so the documents can be printed. To retrieve a document, enter the user’s phone number and document code on the Cloudprint Web site. Any documents are retrieved as a PDF, ready for printing.
All this may sound good, but suppose you are in a strange part of town and don’t have a printer available to you. What then? Cloudprint uses Google Maps to point the way to publicly available printers. Almost any printer, any where in the world, that is a Windows-connected printer allows you to publish your documents. (A Macintosh friendly Cloudprint is under development.)
Why would Hewlett-Packard provide such a great service for free? It seems they are doing this to sell more ink. The company’s printing division profits from this year’s third quarter are up 11% over last year’s third quarter. By embracing a strategy to make printing easier and more accessible, Hewlett-Packard hopes to sell more supplies. Environmentalists may be concerned about an increase in paper use created by Cloudprint: but old documents can be recycled.
Rumor has it that Hewlett-Packard is soon to announce a partnership with a major retailer. The as yet unnamed retailer will offer a variety of Internet-connected printing services at hundreds of locations around the United States. It shouldn’t be long before this type of service sweeps an ever-increasing mobile globe.