I have been called an optimist. I guess it’s true. In mid-July, Jim Lyons wrote about iPhone printing and argued that hoping it would drive new prints was an optimistic view. A few hours later Jim posted a comment titled “Finally the optimists are going on record” referencing the New York Times article on HP’s Cloudprint service (I was quoted in this article).

Cloudprint was indeed motivated by a belief that if we were to make mobile print so simple, some more prints would happen. There is also another belief in Cloudprint: how innovation works in a web world. We could have debated endlessly about the value of mobile print. Instead we created a first (may be primitive) service in six weeks and put it out there for all to use. Try in the real world, learn, update quickly and often, sometimes three times a week. This is the new innovation model.

There is a new Cloudprint version this week. You can now print directly to your home printer from your iPhone, anywhere you might be away from home (we support North America, Europe and Asia right now; we won’t forget the other regions). Or you can designate any other printer you might like, could be the home or office printer of a friend or colleague. It also works with Windows Mobile phone.

Or you can try this other path: uploading your Pictures to Flickr and printing from there. Soon we’ll be helping you create photo books and posters from your Flickr account. You can already do this on Snapfish.

You have the choice. This is print 2.0 in action.

If you are motivated by innovation, read Phil McKinney’s Innovation blog. Phil is passionate about innovation and loves to share his insight and the lessons he learned. Phil is also a friend and colleague as CTO of HP’s Personal Systems Group.