HP’s New High-End Printer Bypasses the PC, Connects Directly to the Web

After two years of project development, Hewlett-Packard is preparing for the official sales launch of a new inkjet printer that the technology giant bills as the world’s first “Web-connected home printer,” a peripheral that cuts the cord to the PC by connecting directly to the Internet.

The Palo Alto, CA-based company says the device, which is intended for the home printer market, was developed in San Diego and Vancouver, WA, by a small R&D team from HP’s imaging and printing group. The effort required a broad range of technology innovations, according to Steve Smith, the San Diego-based R&D program manager who headed development.

As new products go, the significance of the Internet-connected printing technology is not so much in what it can do now, which is frankly not that much. Its significance lies in its potential as a technology platform that could spur independent programmers to do for printers what they have done for the Apple iPhone—which is create tens of thousands of applications that provide new and creative ways of doing things with a device.

HP_Photosmart_Premium_with_TouchSmart_Web_FrontThe printer that HP calls its Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web comes pre-loaded with 15 applications that will enable users to quickly and easily make certain types of printouts. One app enables users to print photos from their Snapfish accounts. Another prints out directions directly from Google maps. Other apps allow users to print product reviews from CNET.com, news stories from USA Today, movie tickets from Fandango, and discount coupons from Coupons.com. In each case, HP’s Smith says the specialized app ensures that what you want will all fit neatly on the printout. “We’ve taken care of the formatting for you,” Smith says.

HP spokeswoman Christy Seto says the printer is not equipped with a web browser, which means users cannot use the device to browse the Internet or make printouts from most websites, unless they use a computer. But she says that will change as corporate partners and independent programmers develop more apps specifically for the printer.

“In general the device is designed for

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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.