eBay Dips Toes Into 3-D Printing Market With iOS App 26
An anonymous reader writes "eBay has announced a new iOS app called eBay Exact that lets you buy customizable 3D-printed merchandise on the go. You can download the new addition now directly from Apple's App Store. The products in question are available from three leading 3D printing companies, according to eBay: Brooklyn-based MakerBot, France-based Sculpteo, and Toronto, Canada-based Hot Pop Factory. Currently, customers can choose from only about 20 items, ranging from technology accessories to jewelry, but that number is likely to grow fairly quickly."
A special store app for limited merchandise (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm supposed to use a store app in order to download another store app so I can purchase from a small selection of customizable trinkets by one of three central manufacturers who happen to use 3D printing. I'm scratching my head here over the value add. I suppose the real story is that Ebay doesn't want to be in the auction business any longer, they'd rather run a walled garden app store that sells junk.
I understand the desire to buy a 3D printer. But why buy something just because it's been 3D printed? Customization can't possibly beat assembly line mass manufacturing in a price/value comparison for this stuff. If Ebay wants to turn this into a business, they need better products that absolutely must be 3D manufactured for utility. Imagine having customized piping tailored specifically to a house plumbing job. Or extruding irregularly shaped cement blocks in Penrose tiles so they could be organized into an earthquake proof wall. That's a business. What Ebay is doing here -- not so much.