November 2002

The PrintMe service, allowing documents to be printed directly from mobile phones to any enabled printer, will be available to users of Microsoft Smartphone mobile phones as they roll out, according to Electronics for Imaging, which launched the system earlier this year.

Effectively, when printing to a compatible printer, the user actually "phones" the printer (it can either be local or remote), and transmits a message or attached document directly to it for printing out. The printer is equipped with a peripheral device called a PrintMe Station, and this links it wirelessly with the Internet, which is used to handle the transmission.

The user needs a PrintMe account (there is a free version), but requires no special software or specific driver for the printer being used.

The system is said to support most modern printers using standard printer "languages" such as Adobe PostScript and Hewlett-Packard's PCL, as well as many fax machines. It is available for a wide range of mobile devices (phones or PDAs), not just the Smartphone, and support Wireless Application Protocol and C-HTML (Compact HTML).

EFI, a specialist in advanced printing and imaging solutions, is hoping in particular that PrintMe will capitalise on the predicted boom in local-area wireless network "hot spots", even though by routing data via the Internet it avoids actually using hot-spot technology.

PrintMe faces two types of competition - portable printers that connect directly to mobile phones and PDAs, and full-sized printers that do use hot-spot LAN technology such as Bluetooth or 802.11b. But if very small, portables can limit the size and finish of the output, while LAN systems rely on compatibility with the phone or PDA, and availability of relevant printer drivers.