The design economy: a brave new world for businesses and consumers

At this moment, two phenomena are converging to create the successor to the information economy. The first phenomenon is a new business model exemplified by Ponoko, a San Francisco company that bills itself as "the world's largest marketplace for product plans." The second phenomenon is the advent of at-home 3-D printing (rapid prototyping). A 3-D printer, or "fabber" (short for fabricator), prints the slices, one on top of another, until it produces (or "fabs") the whole object. Many people are already enchanted by the prospect of having their own 3-D printer, but the price has to come down before large numbers of people buy into the technology. The advent of home-based product printing is just what a company like Ponoko is waiting for. The 3-D printing revolution is going to stimulate many companies to change the way they operate. With 3-D printers, home users will be able to produce many things they want or need.