HP, Stratasys and what it means for 3d

Last week, computer giant Hewlett-Packard has announced a partnership with the 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys. Under this agreement, Stratasys will develop and manufacture for HP an exclusive line of 3D printers based on Stratasys’ [...] technology. This HP-branded 3D printer will be available later this year.

Dimension's uPrint

This means that someone in HP thought that the 3D printing technology is getting ready for mainstream, or as mainstream as you can get with a printer worth 15 000$…! This will certainly open up new markets in two ways.

1. Such a large player will increase awareness of 3D printing in new markets which somehow ignored what 3D printing could do for them. More people will be introduced to 3D printing and some of them might think of new application in their day-to-day job.
2. The increased competition will foster innovation in the market, thus driving the prices down and the capacities of the 3d printers up. The same phenomenon was seen in the internet browser market; when Internet Explorer managed to win against Netscape, its development slowed which picked up only when Firefox, Opera and Chrome started to show up.

On my side, I see it in a larger scope, which somehow is in the same line of thought as my previous post. 3D technologies, not strictly 3D printing, has begun to rise and is here to stay. As people get involved with such technologies, the applications developed will increase and prove their worth. As manufacturers of such tools, it is of our duty to lead this trend and shine through innovation, passion and determination.