Epson announces support for Android KitKat native printing

Many people think that printers are a dying technology. Well, to a certain degree those people are slightly right, but mostly wrong. As time marches on and smartphones become more ubiquitous, a need to print lessens. For instance, people are displaying airline boarding passes on their smartphones rather than print it. Me? I still print. For something like a boarding pass, I have too much anxiety that a glitch or dead battery would impede my travels. Just yesterday, I bought concert tickets and printed them -- the venue requires it.

So, as much as people want to declare the printer dead, they are wrong. We still do not have paperless offices in the enterprise, and that was expected a decade ago. It's not happening anytime soon. With that said, Android now offers native printing in KitKat and Epson is pledging its support, with over 60 compatible devices.

"We applaud Google's introduction of Android Printing as a huge milestone that makes mobile printing easier for both users and app developers. That's why Epson is proud to embrace Android Printing with support for both new and legacy printers as far back as 2008. Now with just a few taps, KitKat users can print to Epson printers from a number of pre-installed Google apps today with the promise of print support from a whole new generation of apps available on Google Play", Patrick Chen, product manager of mobile connectivity, Epson America, Inc.

Chen further explains, "Android Printing allows print manufacturers like Epson to create its own 'print service'. Our print service is called the 'Epson Print Enabler' and allows you to print to Epson printers as far back as 2008. Check online to see a list of supported printer models. You can download and install the Epson Print Enabler from Google Play and turn it on using the following steps".

As you can see, it is very easy to enable -- literally, 1,2,3. While green hippies will decry an increase in printing and the loss of trees, this is still very cool. The best thing, Epson is supporting printer models going all the way back to 2008. The company could have been greedy and tried to get users to upgrade, but instead chose loyalty over dollars -- appreciated.

To see a full list of compatible printers, click here and scroll down to "Android Printing Compatibility".