3D printing is disruptive, not to industrial manufacturing, but to the retail value-chain. As mail-order is currently disrupting retail, 3D printing will disru

3D printing is disruptive, not to industrial manufacturing, but to the retail value-chain. As mail-order is currently disrupting retail, 3D printing will disrupt both retail and mail-order. "Ink" will be sold as a commodity at supermarkets/gas stations (perhaps eventually piped directly as a utility, like gas or water - though our consumption would need to increase dramatically to justify that). Profits will be made on product design, and the industry will look just like the downloadable information-based industries of today: software/games/music/movies/education/news. Some business models will be a service related to the product, not the product itself. Although long-tail diversification will be possible, it mostly will be be dominated by a few products and corporations (due to the same factors as today: concentration of resources, quality assurance of trademarks, wish for community support (e.g. SO questions), marketing reach and herd mentality). Although initially suppliers will be diverse, the industry will soon consolidate - the same pattern as every other new technology. Components that can't be 3D printed - e.g. silicon - will become addable modules (a cheap commodity, bought like screws/nails/pet-food pellets that you add to the hopper). Designs will modularize around this interface. There'll be open source versions too - also consolidated, for the above reasons, as they are today.