The new technology centers on the assembly of a new inkjet printhead. Instead of the printhead components being welded together in postproduction, the components in the new inkjet are created as a single unit via a photolithographic process resulting in more accurate, faster and cheaper printing, HP said in a press release.

“This technology is the next step in our business transformation — the master key that unlocks new market opportunities and further growth in our printer business,” Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president for HP’s Imaging and Printing Group, said in the release. HP’s imaging and print business built up over 21 years has yielded a $24 billion business. “Our intention is to double that in the next 10 years,” Joshi said on an analyst conference call.

HP announced a number of printers based on the new technology, including consumer models — the HP Photosmart 8250 Photo Printer and the HP Photosmart 3000 All-In-One series. Both printers can deliver 4x6-inch prints in as little as 14 seconds for a minimum cost of $0.24 a print, HP said. The printer will also provide a high-quality mode, printing photos as fast as 21 seconds per print, Joshi said. The Photosmart 8250, priced at $199, will ship this month, while the Photosmart 3000, costing between $299 and $399, is due to appear later in the year.

For the small and midsize business market, HP plans to release the HP Officejet Pro K550 Color Printer series in the fall, which the company claims will double print speeds of existing sub-$500 color laser printers at a 30 percent lower cost per page. “It’s a significant step in moving inkjet into the color laser market,” Joshi said.

HP also announced half a dozen new portable photo printers including the HP Photosmart 475 GoGo Photo Printer, costing $279, with the ability to print 5x7-inch photos and store over 1,000 images. The HP Photosmart 420 series GoGo Photo Studio is a bundled camera, printer and dock, priced from $299, and can be battery operated, meaning users can use it whenever they like and don’t need access to a PC, Joshi said.

The company also beefed up its digital camera line, with the HP Photosmart R818, R817 and M517 devices, ranging from $149 to $399. Both the R818 and the R817 allow users to create panoramic images within the device, using the company’s Real Life Technologies, HP said.
Speaking during a press conference, both Joshi and Steve Nigro, senior vice president and general manager of HP’s imaging and print technology platforms, drew parallels between what the company is doing with inkjet technology and the microprocessor industry. HP’s new printhead design means the company can keep increasing the number of nozzles on each printhead resulting in faster, higher quality prints, he said.

Joshi said the new consumer printers on show have 3,900 nozzles, while the printer aimed at small and midsize businesses has 4,200 nozzles on a single printhead. The new printhead technology will enable delivery of 93 million drops to more than 150 million drops per second.

HP has also had to redesign all its inks and media to better take advantage of the new printhead technology. The new HP Vivera inks and HP Advanced Papers will help provide water-resistant photos and smear-resistant documents. The new printers will also use an HP technology dubbed “Auto Sense,”which uses barcode-like technology to sense the size, orientation and type of photo paper.

Both Nigro and Joshi stressed that the new printhead design will allow HP to adopt a “toolbox” approach to building printers that scale across each of the company’s print market segments, cutting development costs of new devices by 50 percent.

Last month, HP’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Hurd split the company’s printer and personal computer groups back into two separate divisions, reversing a January decision by previous CEO Carly Fiorina to merge the two operations.