Printer apps??? What's the use?

The battle of the apps was started long ago in the mobile phone industry.  All the cell phone manufacturers are trying to outdo each other with the most apps.

HP is putting apps on some printers now.  I am not sure I get it. 

Click here to surf over to Hewlett Packard's web site where you can see all the cool apps they are putting on printers.

Here's my question:

• Why would you go to your printer rather than using your computer to print the same thing?

Let's look at some of the apps from HP's app store:

Delta Air Lines:
"Avoid long lines at the airport. Check-in and print your boarding pass for your next Delta flight."
Wouldn't you just print your boarding flight from your computer?


Sesame Street Printables:

"Enjoy Sesame Street coloring pages, educational activities, and books from the Sesame Street eBookstore."
When my kids ask for coloring pages, we usually google the character name with the words "coloring pages".

Yahoo! Digest:

"Get today's top stories from the internet's #1 source for news."
Why would you print the news?



I love gadgets.  Others like me may like the idea of printer apps just because it's cool.  So I'll give a high-five to HP for that.  I've certainly wasted my share of time making something work just because I could.

Give me your opinion.  Do you think printer apps will be the next big thing?

HP affected by toner shortage

Hewlett-Packard warns distributors:

When parts of Japan were devastated by a earthquake a month ago, there seemed little doubt that the printer and supplies industry would be seriously impacted and there would be shortages of some key products. Now, according to an April 12 article, it seems that the industry’s top vendor, HP, which is dependent on Canon for production of laser printers and MFPs and toner cartridges, has sent a letter to various partners indicating that it is concerned about the future availability of certain toner cartridges and LaserJet devices. According to the CRN story, HP has warned its partners that in response to potential shortages it is restricting distribution of some toner cartridges.

HP has been experiencing shortages of the HP CE285A (or 85A) toner cartridge for months now, and just before the earthquake struck, it was said that another SKU, the CE278A (or 78A), was in short supply.

Canon had problems in ramping up production to meet demand for certain HP toner SKUs before the disaster in Japan, and now the firm faces an even bigger challenge. Some of its manufacturing facilities have been offline for weeks, and transportation systems and other key infrastructure in Japan have been disrupted. Although more manufacturing facilities in Japan are coming back online, all it takes is a disruption somewhere in the supply chain, a shortage of a crucial component in a toner cartridge or laser printer, to impact Canon’s ability to manufacture finished SKUs. HP is expecting to see some shortages and is taking the necessary steps to limit their impact by rationing distribution of some toner cartridges.

Why didn't Okidata go with new model numbers here?

Okidata sent me the following service notice.  They updated some printer models which require unique replacement parts when compared to the previous versions of the same models.  Manufacturers usually change the model numbers to accommodate parts identification and compatibility.  

This could get confusing...

ML600/ML300T/ML400 Serial & Network Card Compatibility Information

Oki Printing Solutions has recently released the ML600 Series and updated versions of existing printer models for the ML300Turbo Series and ML400 Series. The model names and equipment part numbers have not changed. However, there are changes to internal parts and also an updated RS-232 interface option for these products. In addition, there is a new NIC, part# 72008701 replacing part# 70046502, which will work in all versions of the printers. Please see the chart below for the serial # revision changes to determine compatibility of these two options for the newer version of printers.

If you have any questions please contact Oki Customer Service at 1-800-OKIDATA.

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 The revisions referenced in the table below can be found on the S/N label of the printer.

See serial number example directly below, the last two characters determine the rev level, which determines compatibility.

 

Additional Note for Service Providers - Due to internal part changes to the latest revision printers, there are updated iIlustrated part manuals, based on the revision of the printer serial number. These include many new part numbers, and these new numbers are identifed on the RSPL with the latest revision as part of the description, see example below:

ML420 Example: PCB: EXB ASSY MAINTENANCE SPEC (REV. E0)