Hewlett-Packard is injecting internet connectivity into printers to control the fall in cartridge sales and ride the smartphone and tablet wave. For a long while it has relied on the sale of its printer ink to provision a large piece of the organization's profits. But as more folks read and conduct their business online, the volume of released documents dropped. Now with smartphones commanding an enormous share of web reading and business transactions, they have become a challenge because they are not hooked up to printers. The planet's No.1 printer maker hopes changes it revealed this week will help reverse the trend. The company is rolling out technology which will give web capacities to all of its new printers costing US$99 ( $120 ) and up. They'll each have their own e-mail, to which smartphone users can send stills and any other files they need to print.

Researchers from the market analysis firm IDC called the changes "cutting edge" but warned they are "not without execution challenges," eg the need to draw in enough program developers to build creative applications that use the new functions.