Makerbot was a Model A: clunky, slow, power-hungry and limited to all but geeks; it is certainly a lot cheaper for a hobbyist than buying a Stratasys the size of a large refrigerator and costing as much as a small home.
To have distributed manufacturing, a much faster, higher capacity, more energy efficient, more flexible (more materials, deposition/removal methods), easy-to-use/-monetize/-protect IP machine/front-end would need to happen to be practical to do more than prototyping.
Amazon could pull this off and save on 'round-the-world shipping by becoming more of an IP to end-user fulfillment marketplace instead of a warehouse logistics shop. (for products which can be built JIT from standard parts/materials)
To have distributed manufacturing, a much faster, higher capacity, more energy efficient, more flexible (more materials, deposition/removal methods), easy-to-use/-monetize/-protect IP machine/front-end would need to happen to be practical to do more than prototyping.
Amazon could pull this off and save on 'round-the-world shipping by becoming more of an IP to end-user fulfillment marketplace instead of a warehouse logistics shop. (for products which can be built JIT from standard parts/materials)