In the early 1980's I had the privilege to visit the leading inkjet printing companies in Japan and the USA. These were the early days when dyes were still being developed for the newly commercial printers. I am still amazed as I read of the growth explosion of inkjet printers for computers, textile printing and graphic arts and yet this list of applications is far from complete.
For a good overview of inkjet printing I would suggest reading the SpecialChem publication of Apr 5, 2004 - Overview Inkjet Formulations and Limitations in the Graphic Arts Industry
Inkjet has now beginning to make a large impact in "smart" applications.
Quotations:
"The ink-jet should no longer be thought of as a printer but as a general purpose tool for creating anything from flexible displays to houses" Nick Hampshire, ZDNet UK, January 06, 2006
"The Impact of Inkjet Printing of Plastic Electronics is likely to be huge. This is without doubt a completely disruptive technology" Stuart Evans, Plastic Logic's CEO July 2003
"For the microprecision-oriented electronics industry, inkjet can now be directly controllable down to the level of the picoliter droplet." Nick Hampshire, ZDNet UK, January 06, 2006.