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HP handout

Printers go wireless: HP Photosmart C6388, all-in-one, will be among the first wireless-enabled printers to be launched in India. But owners of older printers can add a wireless adapter (inset) -

Anand Parthasarathy

Bangalore, Sept 22 As Internet access increasingly goes wireless — thanks to home, office and public WiFi hotspots — PCs are freeing themselves from Internet access cables. It was inevitable that the printer, too, should unshackle itself from the mess of wires.

Last week’s annual regional tech showcase of printer leader Hewlett Packard underlined the trend: At least half the consumer printers due for launch in India in the coming months will have wireless connectivity, through a built-in 802.11 link, otherwise known as WiFi.

As almost all laptops now sold come, by default, with the same feature, it will be easy to send files and pages from laptop to printer. “Wireless-enabled printers will be the rule rather than the exception,” Mr Chris Morgan, HP’s Vice- President for the Imaging and Printing group in Asia-Pacific and Japan, says.

Wireless-enabled HP printers, whose launch in India is imminent, include the Photosmart C4580, C6388 and C5380 — all multifunction print-scan-copy inkjets. In addition to WiFi capability, they have an optional Bluetooth link which enables quick transfer of pages or pictures from mobile phones or digital cameras, over a few metres. The machines are internationally priced at $139, $149 and $199 respectively. Even the cheapest of these can print 30 pages a minute in monochrome and 23 pages in colour. The HP trend means wireless is coming to the budget end of printing, and not just to the pricier offerings. Indeed, wireless will first be common in the consumer end of the printing spectrum — and not at the enterprise end, Mr Morgan says.

For those who have legacy, non-wireless printers of any make, wireless kits (mostly Bluetooth) are available; so the old printers can print wirelessly by simply plugging in the USB device. This costs about $50 equivalent.

For home users who increasingly have at least one desktop in the family as well as a laptop for professional uses, wireless-enabled printers allow greater use of a WiFi home network. As home WiFi routers now cost less than Rs 2,500, many domestic as well as small-office users have already installed one to better utilise their wired broadband connection.

A wireless printer for such home or corporate users is just the last piece to be slotted into their wireless Web world.

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