HP has long been the biggest name in conventional printing. When it comes to homes and offices, and printers at all levels from your desktop multi-function printer, scanner and copier through to those professional grade beasts they use to print, collate and staple your brochures at work, the HP brand is by far the most commonly purchased, with around two out of three printers sold in America coming from the tech giant.
HP’s 3D Printing Vision
Over the past six months or so, it has become clear from products like the HP Sprout that HP have their eye firmly on the mainstream 3D printing market when it comes to their long term product strategy – but does this mean you’ll soon be popping to your local store where you buy HP printer parts for materials to print your own three dimensional ‘stuff’ at home?
Will 3D Printing Become Mainstream At All?
The thing you need to consider before looking at what HP are trying to do is whether 3D printing will feasibly ever become something every tech savvy home, office or school will be able to do. At present, it is really only people with very specific needs for the prototyping and manufacturing abilities, and those who work in industries that work in conjunction with the advancement of 3D printing technology that have ever had the chance to use a 3D printer, but most of us have seen videos about them and probably thought ‘won’t it be cool when everyone has one of these!’.
But then, who didn’t think that the first time they saw a smart fridge or a 3D TV, and sales of those now they are at mainstream prices have not been exceptional, as consumers began to realize that while they were cool, the benefits weren’t substantial enough to warrant the cost. For 3D printers to become mainstream then, we need to see practical ways we can use them, rather than just the impressive, fun looking stuff. With 3D printers there are almost limitless things you can do, but marketing will need to be focused on those that are useful to people outside of specific professions, and which the average home user can comfortably accomplish.
How Are HP Tackling This?
With the HP Sprout, the user does not actually have the ability to print in 3D, but to create 3D designs based on real world objects or their own CAD designs, which can then be ordered online in 3D or printed in 3D at an HP store. This has a lot of great applications in education, and with its price point under $2000 is affordable for schools, businesses, and especially interested home users. Products like this are a good idea as a stepping stone between 3D printing as a specialist service, and 3D printing for the everyday user, and allow people to become familiar with the possibilities and benefits.
While some tech industry authorities don’t believe 3D printing will ever become truly mainstream, others predict it will happen in about five years. It will be interesting to see how HP’s 3D strategy evolves over the coming years and whether they succeed in bringing 3D printing into our homes.
Photograph by Creative Tools