Brother marks one billionth document sent to print through iPrint&Scan app

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Business technology solutions provider, Brother, is reporting a growing global trend of SMBs utilising app-based printing after recording its one billionth document sent to print via the firm's iPrint&Scan app.

Brother launched its app-based print and scan solution in September 2011, when 371,225 documents were sent to print globally in the first month alone. But, in the same month six years on, more than 30 million documents were printed via the app, demonstrating 80 times as much usage.

The solutions provider designed the app to make working from tablets and smartphones more efficient and hassle-free, by cutting out the need to boot up computers to send a document to print or to complete a scanning job.

Andy Johnson, head of product and solutions management at Brother UK, said: "This huge increase in app-based printing correlates with the growth of mobile and agile ways of working. It's also a result of the important role vendors and the channel play in helping businesses to adopt modern working cultures, through supplying systems that underpin productivity and efficiency."

The free app, available on iOS and Android devices (including Amazon Fire tablets), has been downloaded more than 6 million times on Android and iOS.

It supports a range of document types including JPEG, PDF, web page, e-mail, Word®, Excel®, PowerPoint® & Text files, that can all be previewed, edited and printed via the app. Brother reported that users send PDFs to print through iPrint&Scan more than any other file type.

Customers can use the iPrint&Scan app to print from, or scan to, various cloud storage services including Dropbox, Evernote, OneNote, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box.