Nokia on Friday released a 3D printing kit that will allow users to create their own custom cases for the Lumia 820. The handset, which was unveiled last September, features a removable shell case that lets users change the color of their phone or even enable options such as wireless charging. Now Nokia has taken things a step farther. It is allowing users to customize their phone via a special 3D printing kit. Although the market penetration for 3D printers is still in its infancy, this is a way for Nokia to regain the spotlight for doing something different.
Since Nokia has 2 concerns, good marketing, and also, not losing revenue from selling accessories, they could charge owners of Lumia's that don't own 3D printers, to print accessories on Nokia's printers for a fee. That will create a bigger buzz on what is arguably a good idea, and retain accessory revenue.
Makerbot? You didn't really look too hard did you?
Lets see, there is the coffee maker sized/looking things some company is making that is about $1,200, for starts. I don't remember the company name. But, if you want to go both cheap, and don't mind spending some time building it (you get this price only with the kit, not the pre-built), there is the roughly $550, including shipping, "portable" 3D printer, called the portabee:
http://portabee3dprinter.com/
And, yeah, the prices are bound to go down. The Makerbot is costly because a) its print area is much bigger, and b) its got a whole shell thing around it, to keep people out, while it prints. Most of the cost though, ironically, is just in the motors, electronics, etc., the price of which isn't actually likely to drop much. They are already all used/usable in many different things, so, its unlikely that their price is going to go down a huge amount. The whole point of most of these projects is that they use off the shelf parts, or you can print them yourself (assuming you have a printer already), rather than buying them from some company that is making one-off parts, and have to cover their development costs.
A factor, which, BTW, might make the Nokia thing more expensive than it should be, seeing as they will be using custom electronics, custom casing, etc.
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Nokia Gives 3D Printers Something Fun to Do
Posted by: Peter Suciu January 19, 2013 07:00 AMNokia on Friday released a 3D printing kit that will allow users to create their own custom cases for the Lumia 820. The handset, which was unveiled last September, features a removable shell case that lets users change the color of their phone or even enable options such as wireless charging. Now Nokia has taken things a step farther. It is allowing users to customize their phone via a special 3D printing kit. Although the market penetration for 3D printers is still in its infancy, this is a way for Nokia to regain the spotlight for doing something different.
Lets see, there is the coffee maker sized/looking things some company is making that is about $1,200, for starts. I don't remember the company name. But, if you want to go both cheap, and don't mind spending some time building it (you get this price only with the kit, not the pre-built), there is the roughly $550, including shipping, "portable" 3D printer, called the portabee:
http://portabee3dprinter.com/
And, yeah, the prices are bound to go down. The Makerbot is costly because a) its print area is much bigger, and b) its got a whole shell thing around it, to keep people out, while it prints. Most of the cost though, ironically, is just in the motors, electronics, etc., the price of which isn't actually likely to drop much. They are already all used/usable in many different things, so, its unlikely that their price is going to go down a huge amount. The whole point of most of these projects is that they use off the shelf parts, or you can print them yourself (assuming you have a printer already), rather than buying them from some company that is making one-off parts, and have to cover their development costs.
A factor, which, BTW, might make the Nokia thing more expensive than it should be, seeing as they will be using custom electronics, custom casing, etc.