it's not vapourware any more: The company has hundreds of diamond-producing machines - matching the cash-value output of a small mine - and is turning on a new one every other day.

The age of expensive diamonds draws to a close, and not a moment too soon. Bring on The diamond age.

Human beings tend to overestimate change in the short term and underestimate it in the long term.
If you don't understand why this slow change (of which this news is one small yet landmark step) to cheap diamonds is really revolutionary, it will, in the long term, have two effects, one more important than the other.

1) Diamonds as gems will lose their "intrinsic" value.
2) Diamond as a material will be plentiful. The raw ingredient of carbon is plentiful, and diamond is clear and hard, thus excellent for use in multitude of household and industrial applications where plastic, glass or metal is currently used. I bet Apple are all over it by 2020.