Shapeways 3D Printing Year in Review 2013

Today Shapeways released some cool graphics as well as some stats on their network, title 2013 3D Printing Year in review. Here are a few of the key states:

• 50+% Of Shapeways shop owners are self taught 3D Printing Whizs
• 100% Year Over Year Growth in # of Product Creators
• 13,500 different Shapeways Shop, which is 75% growth over 2012
• 84% of Shop Creators hope to one day make Shapeways their main stream of Income
• The Top Countries Represented on Shapeways are: U.S. Netherlands, U.K. Germany, Switzerland, and Canada
• There are over 40 materials and finishes available to use with 3D Printers
• Prices of Products 3D Printed are dropping Substantially. iPhone Case in 2008 = $70, 2013 = $20

Here is one of the graphics:

http://www.3ders.org//images/shapewa...n-review-2.png

In addition to this, Designboom.com also released a list of the top 10 biggest 3D Printing news stories of the year. Pretty interesting read!:
http://www.designboom.com/technology...13-12-20-2013/

I find a few things above quite amazing
#1 - 50% of designers are self taught. I wish I could self teach myself to make some of the things I see on Shapeways
#2 - Over 2.2 million products have been printed. I can't imagine how much money Shapeways must have made off of these printed products this year.
#3 - Each model is handled by 10 Shapeway staff members. That makes me feel good about what I have printed.

Keep up the great work ShapeWays

Shapeways is quickly becoming a huge company, that should really continue to grow as 3D Printing grows. Until someone like Amazon starts trying to compete, I don't see them haven't any other main competition. They have really helped make 3D Printing and especially 3D Design a lot more popular than it would be without their service.