Will HP Page-Wide technology wide-format printers someday disrupt the screen printing business and industry?

I just noticed that the upcoming September issue of Wide-Format Imaging will feature an article/report on “FLATBED” printers.

The advent of flatbed printers made it possible to print (large-format, photo-realistic color prints) directly onto substrates.  Imaging/printing companies that don’t have flatbed printers still have to go through a two-step process (first step, print, second step, mount) in order to complete jobs that require prints be mounted on substrates.  I can’t imagine being a true player in this space -  large-format poster and POS printing – if one does not have a flatbed printer.

But, that’s not the point I’d like to make; the point I’d like to make is this.  All of the current flatbed printers I’m aware of (and I may not be aware of all of them) use a print-head that goes “back and forth” and “back and forth” across the print-width of the print device; in other words, “traditional” plotter action.  Although HP has announced that its first “PageWide” technology wide-format printer will be targeted at the “technical” document market, what’s to prevent HP from later coming out with a “PageWide” technology FLATBED printer?  If/when that happens, I think that that would be truly disruptive to the screen printing business and industry.