Courtesy of HP, Nokia smartphones such as the 7650, 3650 and 6600 will as of today be able to print to certain Bluetooth-enabled printers.
Following an announcement during 3GSM in February 2003 that Nokia and Hewlett-Packard would work together to bring wireless printing to mobile imaging phones, the two companies today delivered on their promise. As a result of this agreement, HP has developed a version of its Mobile Printing Application Software for Nokia's Series 60 platform, anticipated to be available to Nokia mobile phone customers on October 13, 2003.
Industry experts foresee growing demand for wireless imaging solutions, with research from IDC forecasting imaging phone shipments to reach 56.8 million by the end of 2003, and a whopping 215.94 million by the end of 2006.
HP is delivering an application platform based on the Bluetooth Basic Print Profile (BPP) which is designed to enable Nokia Series 60 users to print using their smartphones. Users can print photos, multimedia message service (MMS) messages with images, e-mail, short message service (SMS), notepad files, contacts and calendar items from their Nokia phone and send it to a Bluetooth and BPP enabled printer.
To print content from Nokia Series 60 phones, users can select from a list of printers saved on the phone, or by actively detecting nearby Bluetooth devices. Once the device is selected and verified to be within range and that it supports BPP, the formatted data is sent to the printer while the transmission status is shown.
According to HP, its platform adds print functionality with a very small technical footprint, and places most of the image-rendering burden on the printer, rather than the phone. The BPP solution is ideal for devices such as Nokia and Smartphone licensees. The ability to print offers customers greater flexibility and helps maximize the mobile experience for people on the go.
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