Apple 3d printer?

There's some news circulating about Apple filing patents for a 3d printer with a second nozzle to colour objects as they're printed. [fortune.com]

Do you think they're using some sort of absorbent filament which will soak up ink as it's extruded?

Whilst this is a good idea to create colour prints I wonder if Apple will bring innovation to 3d printing or just take an existing technology make it look cool and release it at the right moment to sell millions.

Quote
DjDemonD
I wonder if Apple will bring innovation to 3d printing or just take an existing technology make it look cool and release it at the right moment to sell millions.

You forgot the part where Apple will file more patents on existing and intuitive items to claim it as their own.

Quote
DjDemonD
Whilst this is a good idea to create colour prints I wonder if Apple will bring innovation to 3d printing or just take an existing technology make it look cool and release it at the right moment to sell millions.

A smart person would take the existing technology make it look cool and release it JUST BEFORE the right moment to sell hundreds of thousands.

Quote
ElmoC

Quote
DjDemonD
I wonder if Apple will bring innovation to 3d printing or just take an existing technology make it look cool and release it at the right moment to sell millions.

You forgot the part where Apple will file more patents on existing and intuitive items to claim it as their own.

Yes I will admit I'm not a member of the Apple religion and I do not welcome their interest in 3d printing, they might innovate some stuff, but they will insist on Apple software, Apple plugs and cables, Apple cartridges for filament/ink, Apple nozzles etc...

It's then inevitable that those who buy one will think its the best thing ever and that Apple invented the 3d printer blah blah.

I hope they dont make one. Apple products always bring fanboys that cannot accept how overpriced everything is. They rarely make anything that's groundbreaking and are just good at marketing.

Whilst I don't think that Apple itself will do anything particularly innovative, I do believe that Apple's entry into the market would give it credibility.

The 3D printing scene now is very reminiscent of the microcomputer scene back in about 1980, just before IBM leapt in with their PC. And we can all see the progress that flowed from that, which arguably might never have occurred, or occurred more slowly. The PC itself wasn't particularly innovative, but the clone wars in the early 80s saw enormous advances in hardware and subsequently software. And the Apple Lisa/Mac, proprietary and overpriced as they were, led to the development of the ubiquitous Windows GUI.