Great news: the Hewlett Packard chief executive Meg Whitman said that the company will announce details about its 3D printers strategy in June, expanding its product line for home and office systems. The future HP 3D printers will be improved compared to the existing equipment on the market.
Meg Whitman said that 3D printers are very slow and witnessing the printing process is like watching ice melting, so users can expect better performance with the HP 3D printers. HP tries to improve print quality and according to Whitman, these improvements will be detailed when the company makes its big announcement in June.
HP 3D printers for business consumers
HP 3D printer will target business solutions and not domestic consumers, at least initially. The company stated that they will work with service providers that process 3D printing orders while HP will offer the product itself. We have got a couple of months of waiting until he hear some targeted news.
Analysts have been expecting for a while an announcement from some big players like HP, Xerox and Canon in terms of 3D printers. Whitman said the company’s researchers were able to solve most of the problems that they were facing, the most important being related to the durability of the printed product.
HP executives estimate that the market for 3D printers will increase from 2.2 billion in 2012 to 11 billion in 2021.
The 3D printer market is currently dominated by small players like MakerBot, a division of Stratasys, that focuses on selling affordable 3D printers to consumers. 3D printing is still at the beginning of the road and we are talking about an immature technology, but having great perspectives. The idea that you can create things just by pressing a button makes 3D printers very appealing to the public.
What do you think about 3D printing: too expensive or worth every penny?