Wirth Consulting

For in-depth print and business-process workflow research and insight

New Mopria Mobile Printing with Android 8.0 OS Features Automatic Printer Discovery, No Downloads

by · Published · Updated

Last week, the Mopria  Alliance, a global non-profit organization chartered to drive industry-wide standards for mobile printing, announced it provided core printing technology to deliver easy intuitive mobile printing in the new Android 8.0 Oreo operating system. Mopria says it worked with the Google Android team via the Android Open Source Project to develop mobile printing for the new OS.

According to Mopria, Android 8.0 Oreo’s new Default Print Service features core technology from the Mopria Print Service, providing mobile printing in the operating system. With Mopria technology at the core of the Android 8.0 Oreo Default Print Service, it says users no longer have to download a mobile-printing service, and that printer discovery is automatic, allowing easy mobile printing to more than 100 million Mopria certified printers from any Android 8.0 Oreo device.

“Mobile printing should be intuitive and ubiquitous, whether you’re at home, in the office, or on the go,” commented Greg Kuziej, chairman of the board at the Mopria Alliance. “Thanks to Mopria technology, Google and the Android Open Source Project, we’re delivering easy mobile printing to Android users.”

Since its launch, the Mopria Print Service has enabled printing on Android (4.4 or later) smartphones and tablets to Mopria-certified printers. Mopria allows users to print photos, Web pages, and documents when their mobile devices are connected to Mopria-certified printers through a wireless network. Supported print settings include features such as color, number of copies, duplex, paper size, page print range, and media type and orientation.

In the four years since the establishment of the Mopria Alliance by founders Canon, HP, Samsung and Xerox, the nonprofit membership organization has grown to 20 members representing the worldwide printer business. In addition to the founding companies, the Mopria Alliance today includes Adobe, Konica Minolta, Qualcomm, Lexmark, Kyocera, Toshiba, Brother, Epson, Fuji Xerox, NEC, Pantum, Ricoh, YSoft, Sharp, Dell, and Primax.

The Mopria Alliance says that while it will continue its efforts to make mobile printing easy, it’s also seeking to expand its focus to standardizing cloud printing and scanning. Its goal is to make these solutions more accessible and easier for both consumer and business users.

It also says that Mopria-certified printers make up 97 percent of printers sold worldwide. For the latest list of Mopria certified printers and print accessories, visit the Mopria Alliance here.

More Resources