I have 3 iPhones in my house, and am looking to add 1-2 iPads this year (if the 2nd gen is any good). I'll also update my printers(laser and color inkjet), they are both a few years old. Naturally with all these iOS devices, I won't buy any printer that doesn't natively support AirPrint, since I don't own a Mac/don't want to keep a PC running 24/7 to be able to print spontaneously from my devices.
Other than HP, I haven't seen any printer or even announcement for another printer hardware vendor to support AirPrint. Why? I could buy an HP, but this makes me really nervous. AirPrint support should be a killer differentiator, I bet there are plenty of people like me. Virtually every new Home Audio setup supports iPod connectivity, I'd imagine this should become the same.
Is AirPrint as a standard for real? Does Apple charge a prohibitive license fee? Or is it DOA?
I don't think it's DOA, it's just new enough that there aren't many implentations of it. I can't say when it's going to be more mainstream. Unfortunately, I am going to say that HP is the only way to go at this time.
