Make-To-Order is spreading

Ok, so this isn't exactly new, but it's spreading to more and more industries.
What made me want to write about this was an article in The Guardian -http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1530503,00.html - about Subway, the sandwich chain. One of the keys to their success versus other fast food chains is make-to-order customisation. Although the burger guys do allow you to say "no this" or that, very few people choose that. And you can't truly order any combo you want. Oh and the fact Subway's stuff is supposedly (haven't tried it myself) very tasty and fresh (which helps them beat the little guy sandwich shops still doing tuna-and-mayo as their most exciting filling.)
Ditto Starbucks - their range of customisable bits seems to me (I could be wrong) bigger than their rivals and definitely better explained - they keep coming out with new leaflets and signs encouraging you to say words like "skinny" and "wet" when ordering (partly at least in the hope you'll add siomething on at extra cost).
But, as we all know, dear blogonauts, MTO ain't new - new cars have been customisable (build-to-order) for some time - BMW and Mercedes have done it 100% for years, partly 'cause it makes sense to build to order - as you know you're gonna sell it - instead of the "churn 'em-out-and-hope-they-sell" of mass car production just to utilise capacity. Now, though, they're all trying to get closer to MTO and reduce capacity to improve profitability.
Ditto computers - Dell's model MTO model has seen a step-change in the industry model because it made sense for the same reason as car MTO does. What they've successfully done is build in other efficiencies around that - web-ordering, platforms, limited range of options which together make up lots of possibilities.
So where's next? Any complacent mature industry where competitive advantage from a breakthrough can be held for some time due to the sluggishness of competitors.

Personally, my logical extension of this for newspapers is the vision of going to your newsagent (or a vending machine at a commuter station) and pressing buttons for which sections you want (or maybe even which bits of a variety of titles) and having them printed off there and then, folded and stapled. You pay only for what you want! Price could be per section.
Wanna browse and enjoy happenstance? Choose the "whole thing" or "randomize" button to get whole papers or bits of each. The whole thing could also be up-to-date by getting constant updates from the web - so your morning paper wouldn't have last night's news - it would have the news as it was when you bought it. That would at least help compete against web news.
Why do this when you can get online news on the go now? Simple - we still buy paper things to hold and read because we like them (parly for convenience - when did your paper last run out of power?) But research shows youngsters now are just as happy online, so maybe the market for this will diminish. It'll also depend on the availability of wireless networks on transport, which are predicted to increase (but we'll see how reliable they prove to be).
So, why is MTO such a big thing? Because it's way more customer-focussed than build-and-hope and being customer-focussed is an essential tool for survival in a world full of Schumpterian competition.
[Here endeth today's marketing lecture! ; O ]