Three trends that will reshape consumer electronics industry

In the last couple of years, some technology advancement have quietly entered mainstream coverage and even when their short term applications are obvious, their long term impact is still to be unveiled. They have the potential to change the technology industry landscape and create a new industrial revolution.

3D printing is the technology to create 3d objects by depositing droplets of plastic layer by layer, much like a conventional ink injection printer prints a picture. This kind of printers (or fabs) have been used in the industry to create prototypes for long time, but now are becoming accessible to mass markets, with even open source projects like fab@home pretending to put a fab on every desktop. As I have already commented, the potential impact of this technology in the consumer electronics market is enormous. Just imagine that you could download and "print" a replacement for a plastic piece, a new ceramics design or even a jewelry design.

Printable electronics are digital circuits created by laying out conductor materials over a polymer surface using a traditional printing technology. To date its biggest issue is the relatively slow clock speeds that they can use. However, recent discoveries may change that. Diverse printed electronic devices like non-volatile RAM, RFID tags and TFT displays were recently showcased in the Printable Electronics conference what seams to indicate that the technology is ready for simple devices like sensors and "smart" materials.

Printable batteries follow the same principles of printable electronics, but with the objective of store and later provide electric power. One example of this technology is Power Paper which provides 1.5 volts batteries. And interestingly, such batteries could be combines with printable solar cells to obtain self-powered devices that don't require chargers.

When considered together, these technologies will give us the license to print our own gadgets. This will surely boost the innovation in devices, as designers won't have to go through long and expensive design-prototype-production cycles, nor will they need to reach critical mass to be cost/effective.

Obviously, having a high quality fab at home capable of printing complex electronics probably won't be affordable in a decade or more, but the deman for such custom made electronics will boost a market of electronics print shops, where you can go and print your designs.

Big consumer electronics producers like Sony and Samsung will need to reconsider its role and become designers - instead of manufactures - of certain product categories (I'm not talking about printing the next Play Station at home) .

This will be begining of the much aticipated era of massive pesonalization, but without intermediaries.