Steve Jobs on AirPrint: 'Lots More Coming Soon'

[Daveoc64]

I don't believe any of these "Steve Jobs" emails. Any idea how easily someone can fake one of those?

No.

It is possible to verify the origin of email messages (reliably enough for this sort of thing).

 

[Daveoc64]

You do know that http://elpamsoft.com has a free AirPrint for Windows Installer. Works great for me, nothing technical needed. Just installed and started printing from my iPad to my Windows shared color laser printer.

Just so you know.

It might work, but they're distributing Apple's confidential software and trying to claim copyright on it themselves.

 

[nexsta]

He doesn't show his customers any respect in his responses.

He replies with short and often offensive comments.

wrong, he shows the biggest respect by answering the question, that what you call respect is worth nothing.

 

[Wispaws]

Sounds like Apple has pulled the iOS printer sharing feature out of Mac OS X for good in order to put pressure on the printer companies to support iOS natively.

This was a strategic decision.

Why does everything with Apple have to be a battle? Most of our printers are connected directly to our Mac and PCs anyway. iOS printer sharing would have been the simpliest way to address this issue.

Very few are going to purchase a new printer just to print from their iPads.

You can also consider from another perspective.

If Apple support printers attached to MACs/PCs then no incentive for printer manufacturers to provide AirPlay integration - a point already made.

That would result in most users having to use a MAC or PC to print both now and in the future

Perhaps Apple are expecting a future where the iPad is unconnected from its current desktop shackles and see a future where an iOS device communicates with just the cloud. In those circumstances a printer with AirPlay support will be a requirement ( if you need to print )!

Graeme

 

[MattInOz]

You can also consider from another perspective.

If Apple support printers attached to MACs/PCs then no incentive for printer manufacturers to provide AirPlay integration - a point already made.

That would result in most users having to use a MAC or PC to print both now and in the future

Perhaps Apple are expecting a future where the iPad is unconnected from its current desktop shackles and see a future where an iOS device communicates with just the cloud. In those circumstances a printer with AirPlay support will be a requirement ( if you need to print )!

Graeme

Yes they want to encourage AirPrint adoption.
But I think it's not just for iOS.

Apples main computer market is Laptops so also portable.
Which throws up a problems. Who wants to have their laptop plugged in to print especially from another device, let alone the laptop itself?

Even Desktop computers you don't want to have to leave them on all the time so you can print. Sure a Print server for a whole office would be ok then again that only applies to small fraction of Apples market. Plus what happens when you leave the office and need to print to someone elses printer.

Snow leopard already leaves behind most print drivers from the install disk only grabbing them as needed. If Lion adds AirPrint support them you may never need print drivers.

 

[Garion]

Personal emails from the CEO are a poor channel for communication from a company.

Normally I'd agree with you, but when the company in question is Apple Inc. the CEO's statements is the companys communication.

 

[mabhatter]

It's not driverless printing. The drivers are simply loaded into the device already. Love the shell game that Steve attempts to play. Perhaps he fools idiots with it, not sure.

That IS the whole problem. I work with printing from midrange servers and by now it SHOULD be dead simple to print plain text to ANY printer... but it's been getting worse as the majority of sub-$300 printers are moving to be "winprinters" just like USB WinModems of old that broke was was working perfectly with serial. Even many of the "network" or "wireless" printers are really just "WinPrinters" and simply won't work without 100MB of drivers installed and have stuff like network sharing actually disabled when it should be an OS function.

This comes down to something that is terribly out of hand in the Windows world, to the point we just accept the way it is. Steve could offer it to OSX users but there are probably enough "sabotaged" drivers even in OSX land that the feature would get terrible press. Better to take the flack for not offering it, than to take the flack when it doesn't work, especially if they tried to offer it to windows iTunes users and it went belly up (not to mention cutting all the printer vendor's margins!)

 

[mabhatter]

If I have a technical issue requiring the assistance of a company, I call them. If I need warranty support or customer service, I call them.

If I'm disappointed that something I felt entitled to hasn't materialized yet, I don't gripe and moan to the CEO of the company. I put on my big boy pants and I wait it out or find another way to approach the function.

As an example, I, too, was disappointed yesterday that AirPrint doesn't (yet) work like I expected it to. Instead of taking that as an affront by Steve Jobs and emailing him over my displeasure, I decided to wait it out. If I want to watch my iPhone-recorded videos on my AppleTV, I'll have to import them to iTunes as I did before.

Different strokes for different folks. At least in this instance, you have hackers and devs already stepping to the plate to plug the hole and meet the need. I'm sure Apple will be along with the features, as promised, at some point in the future.

ON the other hand, Steve having an "open" email address helps the public to feel more connected to the company. He doesn't read all those emails, he probably has an army of PR folks that pass interesting ones along. But when something comes up 1,000 times he feels the need to reply (or at least gets a memo that he replied, ha) It's great for PR to have the email address be replied to, and for him to publicly acknowledge the replies. Guys like Gates or Ballmer can't even demonstrate their products without visible cue cards, let alone answer pointed questions. It's a PR coup for Apple, even if you don't like the answer... at least you GOT one.