Digital Lifescapes

The traditional printer market has been turbulent during the last few years, due to shrinking demand and vendor consolidation. However, the upside for 3D printing is a bright spot. Canalys predicts that the worldwide market for 3D printers, and associated materials and services will reach a value of $4.9 billion by the end of 2016. The total market is expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43.5 percent from 2015 to 2020 -- reaching a value of $22.4 billion. Shipments of 3D printers are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 67.2 percent -- to reach 2.4 million units by 2020. Worldwide, vendors shipped 182,000 3D printers in 2015, a 37 percent year-on-year increase, with strong performances in both the enterprise and consumer sectors. That being said, challenges remain as the market evolves. The market continues to have mixed results, from a growth perspective. While industrial expenditure on 3D printers fell, educational establishments ordered thousands of systems ...

An increasing trend toward personal manufacturing and small scale production is leading to incremental growth for three-dimensional (3D) printing technology across the globe. Furthermore, there has been an increase in interest with the development of heterogeneous material manufacturing capability, according the latest worldwide market study by Frost & Sullivan. Significant new opportunities have emerged with prototyping technologies, with 3D printing gaining momentum across various industries -- from printing a mobile phone cover to reconstructing human organs. Emerging as a technology of choice for a wide range of applications, 3D printing is expected to increase its market share rapidly by about 40 percent during 2015. Frost & Sullivan finds that personal manufacturing and small scale production is already starting to pave the way for further 3D printing adoption. Plus, combined with the automobile and aerospace industries, consumer goods manufacturing and healthcare...

Given the continued trend of a shift to online digital media, color printing technology may not be in vogue -- but it's still evolving. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), the worldwide digital production color print market continued its unabated growth of top-line shipment value in 2013. The industry achieved record shipment values of $4.4 billion in 2013, fueled by growth in a range of technologies, from mid-production cut sheet to ultra-high volume inkjet printing systems. The cumulative value of shipments is expected to approach $25 billion over the 2014-2018 forecast period, climbing from $4.6 billion to $5.4 billion with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2 percent. "Between 2014 and 2018, IDC expects to see the sum of all production color shipments to surpass 353,000," said Amy Machado, senior research analyst at IDC . "The high end of the market, albeit smaller from a unit perspective, is where the gold r...