Canon, Seiko Epson, HP to set printing standard for camera phones

TOKYO (AFP) Feb 13, 2004
The world's three leading printer makers on Friday said they will form a consortium to create a standard for printing photographs directly from cellphones equipped with a digital camera.

Canon Inc. and Seiko Epson Corp. of Japan and Hewlett-Packard of the United States -- with a combined market share of 90 percent of global household printer sales -- announced in a joint statement the formation of the Mobile Imaging and Printing Consortium (MIPC).

Sales of camera-equipped phones are expected to account for a majority of global handset sales by 2008, according to a report quoted in the statement.

MIPC will begin lobbying on its printing standard by the second half of

Canon, Epson and HP were among the promoters of the PictBridge standard for printing digital camera photos.

SPACE.WIRE