More likely, and I think more importantly, as the MOD-t progresses, other more established 3D printer makers will be watching. If they get convinced that it will get released and work as advertised, there will be a race among these companies to compete at the price point. Right now, the only reason people at say Makerbot have for not making a sub-$500 printer is that "it can't be done". Once somebody, (it doesn't have to be NewMatter, but my money is on them for now) breaks that price floor, everyone else will almost have to follow suit.

Of course, breaking that price floor (in any kind of sustainable way) tricky to say the least. With the current Darwin, Prusia and Delta form factors, it's effectively impossible, though the Tantilus, HBot and CoreXY drive systems come close to the $550 to $650 region. For the fully assembled printer, the sub $500 price point is still unclaimed territory.