AirPrint, what does that mean to you? Currently, it means buyings an HP model printer, because you’re unable to natively print to shared printers. To me, it meant no longer having to network my beast laser printer (which supports Bonjour, btw) and being able to print directly to the Lexmark printer from my iPad. Turns out I was wrong, because we still can’t print to shared printers on a network with the iPad and iOS 4.2.
A lot of earlier iPad adopters that I know, excluding the geekier bunch, list the lack of printing as a major downside of the iPad. Personally, I’ve moved beyond printing altogether, opting for a PDF model, but some people still rely on ink and paper daily.
We’re not the only ones that have a growing concern about the lack of printing on the iPad though. People are starting to email Steve Jobs directly, asking for clarifications.
Question [sic]
Dear Steve,
You got me all hype about AirPrint. Now with iOS 4.2 released, I find out that I can only print on 11 select printers. Seriously?!
Reply
Lots more coming soon. It’s what it takes to make a giant leap to driverless printing, which is huge.
So there you have it. Apple’s working on increasing the number of printers supported by AirPrint. But, what we don’t know is if we’re ever going to see network-based printing for older printers, assuming the email was legitimate in the first place.
I sure would love to see Bonjour-based printers supported in the near future. It shouldn’t be all that difficult for Apple, considering AirPrint might just be an extension of Bonjour in the first place.
Article Via Just Another iPad Blog
