Even pg was in Providence for a while in the early 90's, in the painting program at RISD. I think it's gotten a lot more "wicked funnier" for startups since then!
It has taken a while for the printers to come down the cost curve, and for materials to come up the quality curve. I was talking to the CEO of Z Corp (a $50M 3D printng company) and he gave a great example of how, for Clark's Shoes, they've been able to go from small scale looks-like prototypes, to full-size prototypes, to functional shoes, over 10 years. Apparently functional prosthetics are next.
True. The reason why this went well for the developer is that he did direct sales to find early advocates, and didn't rely on an app store magic wand. Of course, that is possible with a $199 app, not so much with a $1.99 one.