HP introduces more wireless, environment-friendly printers

In one episode of Martha Stewart’s popular television program “Martha,” the queen of fine living wished out loud for HP to have a printer that would allow her to print some of her crafts on cardboards.

In Hong Kong last month, HP showcased new printers like the HP Color LaserJet CP2020 and CM2320 that could print in a broad range of media, including thick and heavy ones like postcards and card stocks. In addition, the company unveiled additional wireless printers that should get the stamp of approval from someone like Stewart who is the quintessential advocate of clutter-free homes and offices.

HP’s major consumer launch in Hong Kong also demonstrated the company’s latest forays into online and retail photo printing services, mainly by partnering with one-stop digital print shops and by making Snapfish, an online photo service, available in more countries.

The impact of HP printers to the environment was also in the front and center of the discussions between the press and HP executives who repeatedly emphasized how their four- and five-color ink printers today have turned “green.”

Wireless action

HP is seeing a strong trend toward wireless printing and is readying for it by making two-thirds of its existing printer models already wireless-capable.

HP’s latest wireless printing solutions at different price points are the HP Photosmart C4580, C6380 and C4599 printers that feature built-in wireless printing and optional Bluetooth accessories, plus the C5380 model (Bluetooth only).

“Wireless is a main focus on printers now. And two-thirds of our printers across the Photosmart line are now wireless-capable. At some point in the future, wireless capability will become even more available — a trend that will just continue,” said Christopher Morgan, senior vice president of HP’s Imaging and Printing Group in the Asia-Pacific and Japan.

Also in the new HP Photosmart line are All-in-One (AIO) units that support not just print, but also CD/DVD label, scan, copy and fax functions (depending on the model). AIOs are now highly in demand, but they don’t necessarily herald the end of basic printers.

“We don’t see the death of single-function printers and we are not exiting this area,” stressed Christoph Schell, HP vice president for Consumer Go To Market and Web solutions in the Asia-Pacific and Japan. “In particular, there are still a lot of households in the Asia-Pacific that don’t have a printer, and when they buy they’d likely go first for the basic printers.”

Big fish

HP has its eyes, too, on the burgeoning online document and photo printing business which market research company IDC expects to reach an annual revenue of approximately $5.5 billion this year.

To get ahead in this market, HP is adding more retail partners and HP Stores to make its new services accessible to more people. In Australia, for example, HP recently partnered with Harvey Norman OFIS, a subsidiary of retailer Harvey Norman, to offer photo and document printing services at its retail print shops using HP solutions.

HP executives said they will roll out more partnerships for retail photo kiosks and other types of digital printing in markets they deem ready for such.

“We want to be the leader in printing for the home, photo, and small- to medium-sized business (SMBs) that’s why we are putting in investments in these areas. We will have other types of retailers selling our products to offer new user experiences,” Morgan said.

“I expect to see more customer-assisted service in photo printing in Southeast Asia where people can print on ceramic mugs, calendars, shirts, and other items. Printing in just 4x6s is not a good money market. The key is to do more than that. We will expand, for example, in the gaming area by offering to print avatars on any media so gamers can express themselves more and increase the games’ emotional value,” Morgan added.

A move toward this direction is the new partnership of HP with game publisher Electronics Arts Inc. that resulted in the world’s first EA Experience store at The Peak in Hong Kong. Outfitted with HP desktops and notebooks with EA games installed, the EA Experience store provides unique experience for gamers to play on high-performance HP machines and to create personalized game-related images and memorabilia that can be printed on HP printers.

Then there’s Snapfish, an online company that HP acquired a few years back. This online photo sharing, photo storage and management service also allows its members to order prints online, affording them the freedom to decide exactly how, when and where they want to share, store and print their photos. Home delivery of customized printed photo albums is a nice and convenient part of the Snapfish service.

Currently, Snapfish has more than 60 million active members worldwide, Schell said. Although anyone in the world can sign up for an account at Snapfish, in the Asia-Pacific the full service is only available so far in Singapore, China, Japan, India and Australia. Schell said they expect to roll it out next in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

“HP is strong in merging the home, office and online printing, and now we’re moving in the digital document and photo retail services. Who’s leading in online and digital printing? Others may have one piece (of the solution) but HP has several, especially in online. We are an IT company so we can connect our solutions unlike our competitors,” Schell said.

Essentials

HP’s Imaging and Printing Group also took the Hong Kong event to present the new HP Eco Highlights label, a fifth ink, and an improved HP Photosmart Essential software.

The HP Eco Highlights label is designed to help customers understand the environmental attributes of a specific product, tool or service. The labels highlight a product’s environmental attributes by including its energy efficiency and recycling information. The first set of printers to have this label is the HP Photosmart C4580, C5380 and C6380.

Morgan also noted HP’s ongoing effort to recycle electronic waste with a target of recovering 900,000 tons by end of 2010.

“For the environment we are trying to reduce the power consumption of our printers,” Morgan continued. HP printer’s Instant On technology is a huge power saver: six times more efficient than competitive laser printers.

“We want users to understand the cost of energy around the printers. As cost of power increases, savings on hardware is wasted if it consumes lots of power, so we develop printers that are energy-efficient,” he added.

The Eco Highlights also apply in several models like the HP Officejet J4660 All-in-One, which uses less than one watt of energy while in off mode and has cartridges made from 50-percent recycled plastic. It has a 40-percent less power consumption rating, just like the HP Photosmart C6380 All-in-One that also supports 100-percent recycled paper.

HP also unveiled a next-generation, five-ink printing technology which debuts in the new HP Photosmart D5460, C5380 and C6380 printers.

HP’s next-generation, five-ink printing technology incorporates not just cyan, magenta and yellow but also a pigment black ink that prints laser-quality text, as well as color and photoblack dye-ink print-heads with dual-drop-volume technology and scalable printing technology that prints fine detail up to 9600 x 2400-optimized dpi resolution.

The pigment black automatically gets used when printing text documents on ordinary paper, but switches to photoblack if it detects that photopaper is being used, explained an HP executive who also noted that the XL cartridges can print 800 pages, resulting in 40-percent savings.

The five-ink system also features specially formulated HP inks for high quality and permanence. The system also offers affordable high-capacity cartridge options (extra large size) that are ideal for frequent printing.

Lastly, HP improved its HP Photosmart Essential software so users can enjoy easier photo printing and do more creative projects than ever before. The redesigned software features an engaging user interface and updated functionality, so consumers can do more in less time. The HP Photosmart Essential is something that should appeal to the likes of Martha Stewart and other crafts aficionados around.