Nokia Wants You To Print a Shell For Your Phone

Joel Willans on Nokia's site, quoting Nokia Community & Developer Marketing Manager John Kneeland:
Perhaps in addition to our own beautifully-designed phones, we could sell some kind of phone template, and entrepreneurs the world over could build a local business on building phones precisely tailored to the needs of his or her local community. You want a waterproof, glow-in-the-dark phone with a bottle-opener and a solar charger? Someone can build it for you—or you can print it yourself!



This is a fantastic idea and is clearly a forward-looking move by Nokia.  The era of 3D printing is upon us, and it is in the best interests of many companies to follow suit by releasing usable 3D printing documents for their products.  It's a great way to build customer loyalty and PR buzz by fostering a community based on a product.