Apple to fire up wireless printing in iOS 4.2

September 16 2010 – 11:53 am ET | Matt Kapko | RCR Wireless News

 

Photo credit:Matt Kapko

Apple Inc. is launching its AirPrint wireless printing program for devices running on iOS in the next software update in November. The company has released a beta version of the program to developers and plans to roll it out to all users in iOS 4.2.

AirPrint will automatically find printers on local networks and enable iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to print text, photos and graphics via Wi-Fi. The program requires no drivers or additional software and iOS 4.2 devices will be able to print to printers shared through a Mac or PC, Apple said.

The first printers to support the service will be Hewlett-Packard Co.’s series of ePrint enabled printers.

“AirPrint is Apple’s powerful new printing architecture that matches the simplicity of iOS—no set up, no configuration, no printer drivers and no software to download,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s SVP of worldwide product marketing. “iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can simply tap to print their documents or photos wirelessly to an HP ePrint printer or to a printer shared on a Mac or PC.”