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> “I’ll be sitting at home. Maybe something broke; maybe my glasses.” He grabs the sunglasses on his desk, continues, “maybe I want to reprint it and I’ll go to

> “I’ll be sitting at home. Maybe something broke; maybe my glasses.” He grabs the sunglasses on his desk, continues, “maybe I want to reprint it and I’ll go to Oakley, Ray Ban, whatever, Philippe Starck in this case, download the file, pay $3.49 for it, and print it at home. And then you will have to go to your Kinko’s or your Fab Labs, your local 3D printing, if you want it in metal or plastics you can’t have at home.” Why would Oakley, Ray Ban, or Philippe Starck sell the design to their glasses for $3.49 when they can sell you the replacement pieces for three times more [1], or better yet sell you a replacement pair of glasses? [1] http://www.oakley.com/en/mens/sunglasses/replacement-parts/category/m021103 http://www.oakley.com/en/mens/sunglasses/replacement-parts/c...

sgnelson 11y ago
This quote was one of a few, which made it sound like this guy doesn't get MakerBot/ed printers anymore than any of the other, clueless executives, but when your father is the chairman of the corporation...
lambdaelite 11y ago
> Why would Oakley, Ray Ban, or Philippe Starck sell the design to their glasses for $3.49 when they can sell you the replacement pieces for three times more [1], or better yet sell you a replacement pair of glasses? Because you want a poorly finished piece that takes multiple tries to print right because the extruder jams, piece warps, or a misaligned head crashes into the object turning everything into a goopy mess? The occasional time my Replicator 1 works on the first try, it's magical. Most of the time it's an exercise in frustration.
brc 11y ago
Well, I'm sure most record labels would rather sell you a DRM'd CD than an iTunes download. But because of the way the market is, they have no choice in the matter. You also might forget that $3.49 of pure profit may beat the eventual per-unit margin of even high priced replacements, which require warehousing, retailing, restocking, shipping, etc etc.

sgnelson 11y ago

This quote was one of a few, which made it sound like this guy doesn't get MakerBot/ed printers anymore than any of the other, clueless executives, but when your father is the chairman of the corporation...

lambdaelite 11y ago

> Why would Oakley, Ray Ban, or Philippe Starck sell the design to their glasses for $3.49 when they can sell you the replacement pieces for three times more [1], or better yet sell you a replacement pair of glasses? Because you want a poorly finished piece that takes multiple tries to print right because the extruder jams, piece warps, or a misaligned head crashes into the object turning everything into a goopy mess? The occasional time my Replicator 1 works on the first try, it's magical. Most of the time it's an exercise in frustration.

brc 11y ago

Well, I'm sure most record labels would rather sell you a DRM'd CD than an iTunes download. But because of the way the market is, they have no choice in the matter. You also might forget that $3.49 of pure profit may beat the eventual per-unit margin of even high priced replacements, which require warehousing, retailing, restocking, shipping, etc etc.