New MakerBot’s 3D printers are now being
shipped as the Replicator the Fifth Generation is now on sale. The MakerBot
Replicator Desktop 3D Printer is in $2,899. This product is characterized as easy
and fast printing. It has 3.5-inch full color LCD display with a user-friendly
interface. The printer is accessible through desktops, mobile applications, USB
stick, and USB Cable. Even connection through Wi-Fi is available. The product
also has smart features such as cloud connection; that is, the printer can
automatically take reference pictures of final prints and save them to the
personal cloud storage. Moreover, even if the volume (456 cubic inches)
increased by 11% from the last model, the speed of printing became quicker than
ever. The company also introduced a miniature version of it, called the
MakerBot Replicator Mini. The cost is cheaper ($1,375), but it contains most of
the features that the regular version has. The mini version is, however,
extremely small (length and width of 4-inch) and more for entertaining and
educational purpose. On the other hand, MakerBot is also receiving preorders
for the larger verson (2,592 cubic inches) called the MakerBot Replicator Z18,
pricing $6,499.
To understand the products better, we should know about MakerBot. MakerBot
Industries is a pioneer in desktop 3D printing. The company consists of
engineers, entrepreneurs, and those who enjoy making things. Its products are
earning the reputation as they were chosen as Time Magazine’s Best Inventions
of 2012, Popular Mechanics “Overall Winner” for best 3D printer, and Fast
Company 2012 Innovation by Design Awardee. This Brooklyn, New York-based
company was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach Hoeken
Smith.
MakerBot has been improving its products in a unique way from its
first kit of 3D printers, the Cupcake CNC to its present model, MakerBot
Replicator. The Cupcake CNC was introduced in March 2009, and the company did
not hide the source of this small 3D printer, allowing others to build their
own version. This strategy successfully gained many suggestions from users; through
this process, the company has produced MakerBot Replicator.
Despite MakerBot has hugely contributed to the 3D
printing industries, it is now facing inevitable competitors. MakerBot
Industries first introduced its 3D printers in CES 2010, and it was the only
company that exhibited a 3D printer. The same happened in CES 2011. In CES 2014, many companies such as RepRap, Cube,
Solidoodle, Bits from Bytes(BFB), Botmill, uPrint, and HP are the big
competitors of MakerBot Industries. HP recently declared a pricing war in the
3D printing industry: "3D printers have had a
reputation for being pricey, being a new technology that's been primarily aimed
at the enterprise. According to Whitman in October, HP wants to bring the
technology to people at a lower price point." As 3D printing industry
will become more popular, even more companies will compete in the industry.
However, MakerBot’s products have an
innovative design in my opinion. Moreover, the specification of the recent
printers shows the quick improvement. As a result, its printers are
comparatively high-quality. Overall, I found the MakerBot Industries as a very potential
company. The only problem that I see is too many competitors are jumping into
3D printing industry; that is, some competitors will soon close the gap of the
quality of printers, as Samsung did for Apple. If only MakerBot can make a difference
from other competitors such as in marketing, I believe MakerBot can soon become
one of the biggest companies in the world.