Technology starts out expensive, experiments with formats, then prices plummet as the technology settles and becomes an affordable product. Laser printers, when invented 1969, were $20,0000 but are now around 0.5% of that price, $100. This already happening with 3D printers. Sure, you can buy a $20,000 professional HP 3D printer but a $1200 3D printer is already available.

Donald Clark Plan B: 3D printers: gimmick or game changer

http://chronicle.com/article/3-D-Printers-Arent-Just-for/134440/