Personal predictions.
The accoustic piano is going to be around for a long time to come. The main technological impact will fall in two areas. One, the availability of constantly improving digital keyboards as an alternative will tend to make the piano, more and more, a luxury item. Two, technology will lead to improved manufacturing and maintenance practices--pianos will be manufactured to closer tolerances, of raw materials that are cast, dried, etc. to higher standards, and the technological gadgets available to those who service pianos will mean fewer bad tunings, etc. In other words, the piano itself will be on the receiving end of the changes rather than changing itself, and, bottom line, look for better, more expensive pianos (note, I'm not talking Steingraber or Boesendorfer, here, I'm considering what middle class parents might buy for an interested child or a recent college grad might buy for himself).

Also, it's easy to knock Walmart, but as tjbsb noted, Walmart payrolls are pretty important to many a local economy. I shop at Costco, not Walmart, and in the Pacific Northwest, Costco is well regarded for providing health insurance and decent pay for its employees. How many small businesses can provide health insurance for all their staff? And, in the last year, I've personally seen the following piano brands on the floor at Costco--Estonia, Boesendorfer and Yamaha. I didn't bother to look at the prices, but I'm sure that, one, you could get a better deal somewhere else if you shopped hard enough, and two, the prices were fair, firm and inclusive.

There's a bit of humor in that sentence, but I'd like to avoid any lame efforts, so I'll pass on the cheap shots.

Your new guitar has strings. It needs tuning, adjustments and new strings from time to time. A real piano is bigger and much more complex, so the only real difference that I can see is that it's not a DIY instrument for maintenance and tuning, but then neither are the Digital Pianos.

Good luck with the search. That receipt will be interesting.

Self tuning pianos are in the cards. The technology exists and surely will be implemented.
They will have the ability for standard A=440 or with the flick of a switch go to any tuning loaded into it by software. As someone just getting into the field of piano technology it is easy for me to see this and it will rise well above the level of "gadget".

It is not the end of anything but the beginning of everything. The piano technologist of the not to distant future will need a skill set of computer hardware,software and robotics to go along with traditional skills. After all it is piano technology!

I am attaching a link to Gibson guitars and their Robot Guitar. I know a guitar is not a piano but I'm sure someone somewhere has this all figured out. They just have to get a price point that will work.
http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric...o/Features.aspx

"It is not the end of anything but the beginning of everything. The piano technologist of the not to distant future will need a skill set of computer hardware,software and robotics to go along with traditional skills. After all it is piano technology!"

Absolutely agree! No different than a car mechanic that has to go around with a laptop to troubleshoot/diagnose a car. Yes, the "engine" may be very similar but the tools change; in order for the tools to change, the technology needs to change (it's been available in the other industries for many, many years) and piano companies that will not adapt and change will go by the wayside. The same thing happened to equipment mechanics that used to replace belts or gears to change machine speeds and now all they have to do is download new settings to the servos. ( the "same" servos used by Gibson!)