1. An image processing apparatus, comprising: image processing hardware including at least one of a printer unit and a scanner unit; an operating system; a plurality of application programs, operable on the operating system, and configured to process images using the image processing hardware; and a user information control program operable on the operating system and configured to receive a request for user information including distribution address information from any one of the plurality of application programs, obtain the user information including the distribution address information from one of a first memory and a second memory based on the request, and provide the obtained user information to the application program from which the request for user information including the distribution address information was received, wherein the user information control program comprises an application program interface that allows for reception of the request from any one of the plurality of application programs using a predefined function.