HP has launched wireless photo printing application, iPrint Photo, for the iPhone and iPod touch customers to print 4 x 6-inch photos. The application can be used by connecting HP inkjet printers to a local Wi-Fi network. This eliminates the need to connect the iPhones to a desktop/laptop computer for printing photos.

HP will showcase the technology at the 2009 Macworld Conference & Expo and the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

iPrint will be available for free at the Apple App store. It is said to be the first photo printing application for the iPhone to be available at the App store. The application is compatible with Apple’s Bonjour technology and uses multi-touch interface for wireless printing.

Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president for Imaging and Printing Group at HP, said: “HP is enabling customers to turn special moments captured on the go into high-quality photos. More than any other company in the world, HP has re-imagined, re-engineered and re-invented the power of printing with new technologies that address real customer needs.”

Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at Enderle Group, said: “There’s a major shift happening in the mobile domain today. Annual camera phone device shipments are exploding on a worldwide basis, and mobile photo printing is quickly growing. Until now, customers had no easy way to print the special moments captured on their iPhone or stored on their iPod touch.”