LONG BEACH, Calif. – Sept. 17, 2014 – Underscoring its commitment to creating a better, easier and more accessible mobile printing experience, Epson America today announced its first Mopria-certified printers for home and business – the Epson® Expression® Photo XP-860, Epson® Expression® Premium XP-820, XP-620, XP-520, and Epson WorkForce® WF-2660, WF-2650 and WF-2630.
The need for mobile printing is increasing in tandem with the growing ownership of smartphones and tablets, that is expected to reach 5.1 billion worldwide by 20181. Epson’s mobile print efforts are designed to embrace both the rapidly evolving demands of mobile customers and the diversity of multiple operating systems. One key initiative is Epson’s commitment to the Mopria Alliance’s mission for intuitive mobile printing and advancing mobile print standards that allow business and home users to print regardless of brand, device or operating system.
Mopria-certified Epson all-in-one printers work with the Mopria Print Service and the built-in Printing Framework in Android v4.4 or later (KitKat). After ensuring the printer has the latest firmware, Android 4.4 users can print from Google apps such as Chrome, Gmail, Drive and QuickOffice, as well as the Adobe Reader and Kingsoft WPS Office App. With Android projected to account for 74 percent of global smartphones and tablets sold in 20141, Epson is actively enabling intuitive printing for an unprecedented number of new Android users.
“With 9 out of 10 U.S. smartphone users 16 years or older2 and two of five employees using smartphones on the job3, the need for intuitive mobile printing options and support is apparent,” said Patrick Chen, product manager of mobile connectivity, Epson America, Inc. “Epson is proud to actively support an industry-wide movement to streamline mobile printing ease-of-use and accessibility.”
In addition to Epson’s support of the Mopria Alliance and its goal to streamline mobile printing, Epson also offers the Epson Connect Solutions Finder to help mobile users make sense of the numerous mobile printing solutions and apps currently available. Using this online tool, users can easily choose a mobile device and compare which printing options are best-suited to meet their specific mobile printing needs.
More about Epson Mobile Printing Solutions
The Epson Connect™ suite of free mobile printing solutions enables users to print documents, photos, emails and web pages from anywhere in the world using an Epson Connect-enabled printer and a tablet, smartphone, or computer4. To learn more about Epson’s impact on mobile productivity and convenience, visit the Connect Blog on the Epson Community.
About Mopria Alliance
The Mopria Alliance is a non-profit membership organization of leading global technology companies with the mission of providing intuitively simple printing from smartphones, tablets and other devices. By bringing together the mobile, software and print industries, the Mopria Alliance selects and promotes technology standards that will drive ease-of-use (interoperability) between different devices and operating systems. This will enable users (at home or at work) to easily connect and print from their mobile device to a printer, regardless of brand. As an additional convenience, app downloads and setups for new mobile devices or printers will become unnecessary. The Mopria Alliance pursues these goals by driving the adoption of selected technologies and by operating a program to test and certify printer compatibility with Mopria-enabled mobile devices.
About Epson
Epson is a global innovation leader dedicated to exceeding expectations with solutions for markets as diverse as the office, home, commerce, and industry. Epson’s lineup ranges from inkjet printers, printing systems and 3LCD projectors to industrial robots, smart glasses and sensing systems and is based on original compact, energy-saving and high-precision technologies.
Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises more than 73,000 employees in 94 companies around the world, and is proud of its ongoing contributions to the global environment and the communities in which it operates. Epson America, Inc. based in Long Beach, Calif. is Epson’s regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. To learn more about Epson, please visit: www.Epson.com.
You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Epson), Twitter (http://twitter.com/EpsonAmerica) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/EpsonAmerica).
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Epson is a registered trademark, Epson Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark and Epson Connect is a trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation. All other product and brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. Copyright 2014 Epson America, Inc.
1 “Forecast: PCs, Ultramobiles and Mobile Phones, Worldwide, 2011-2018, 2Q14 Update” Gartner Research; June 2014
2 According to “Mobile Technology Fact Sheet,” Pew Research; Jan. 2014
3 “Is Printing from Mobile Devices Ready to Take Off?” InfoTrends; July 2012
4 Most features require an Internet connection to the printer, as well as an Internet- and/or email-enabled device. See www.epson.com/connect for a list of Epson Connect enabled printers and compatible devices and apps.
5 “ IDC WW Quarterly HCP Tracker Final Historical release, 2014 Q1.” IDC; April 2014
