Epson Predicts Consumer Market Will Show Only Temporary Interest in 3D Printing

Reporting on Epson’s 30th anniversary in Sydney, Australia, The Age quotes Epson’s President Minoru Usui as saying Epson will not enter the 3D printing consumer market for plastic models.

According to Mr. Usui, 3D printers of Epson would be focused on commercial applications, “such as in large-scale production environments”. Also, he noted that the 3D printing consumer market was “niche” and would not be “all that big”, adding that recent consumer interest would be just a “temporary” boom. In addition to falling prices, 3D printers are limited by the types of material used to create objects.

The price of 3D printers in the consumer market has been falling, with firms such as MakerBot selling models for as low as $949 USD.
On the other hand, Mr. Usui noted Epson’s policy is that patents had to “lead to an output”, as Epson registered 17,890 individual patents between January 2010 and December 2012.