It now looks like a big player is about to enter 3D printing and they have lots of advantages, given their credibility, their size and their established place in the design for manufacturing process.
Makerbot, 3D Systems and Ultimaker are going to have a new competitor in AutoDesk who will be seeking to clean up with a key market segment which includes high-end consumers, prosumers and 3D design shops.
Yesterday, Autodesk announced it will be launching its own 3D printer with an open-software 3D printing platform which is to be called Spark. The company did not give any firm pricing although the Chief Executive did say the price will be around $5000. There was some commitment that both the 3D printer and accompanying software will be available before the end of the year. The intended price puts it well above the low-end consumer bracket for 3D printers such as the Cube, Makerbot Repllicator 2 and Ultimaker 2. However, that is not the point. AutoDesk want small business customers and will without doubt push their products towards their existing customer base who already do design work with AutoCAD, etc.
The strategy of Autodesk is clear. It wants high margin customers who are already engaged in design for manufacture and commercial 3D modelling to adopt their technology.
As stated by the company about their forthcoming 3D printer and open software
“will provide the building blocks that product designers, hardware manufacturers, software developers, and materials scientists can use to continue to explore the limits of 3D printing technology.”
In addition, the CEO made some statements around the company’s inentions:
“Open and freely licensable to hardware manufacturers and others who are interested. Same for our 3D printer.”
and
“the design of the printer will be made publicly available to allow for further development and experimentation.”
This is an interesting move for AutoDesk as it intends to grab a good share of the currently estimated $2.5 billion market for 3D printers which could grow according to many analysts to $16B dollars over the next 5 years. We think this is good news as AutoDesk are known for good products of a high quality. They are well backed by a very considerable customer base who use their software every day. This should help ensure the success of their move towards supporting an ‘open development’.
3DPrintWise says bring it on Xerox, HP or Adobe.