I started in 3D because I saw the large opportunity in the 3D market as well as with Dimensional Optics’ products.
I see a lot of potential with 3D technology and it is very exciting to be part of a growing industry.
What does your company do?
The company was founded by former eyewear industry executives who saw an opportunity to create a high quality 3D product at an affordable price point. The founders had the connections in manufacturing from their history in the eyewear business to make such a product. So essentially we manufacture the products, brand them with our 3ACTIVE brand, and provide customers with a superior shopping experience on our web store as well as provide outstanding customer service and technical support via phone and email. As far as recent activities, we just (about 2 weeks ago) launched a selection of our products on Amazon.co.uk. Before the Holiday season, we expanded our Active product line to support all major manufacturers of Active 3D TVs.
What are the most interesting and challenging aspects of your work?
The most interesting part of working in the 3D industry is the fact that we are creating a new product category that did not exist in the main stream ever before. We are essentially creating the market. This is especially true for Passive 3D glasses. The passive 3D TV owner is required to buy passive 3D glasses to watch 3D at home; however the 3D movie consumer is a different case entirely. The 3D cinema patrons are still getting “free” glasses at the theater so there is no driving motivation to buy a personal pair of 3D Glasses …yet.
It is a challenge every day to educate the consumer on the nuances of 3D technology specifically in regards to compatibility across different brands of 3DTV. We aim to do so by creating a user friendly navigation on our website that gets the customer to the correct product without overwhelming them with technical information. The information is there if they are interested, but most people just want to watch 3D and don’t really care how it actually works.
What are the most common questions / issues your customers ask about?
Mostly compatibility issues, when a customer calls, they generally know that they need glasses specific to their brand of television, but they have a bit of an issue buying from a 3rd party. They just need the reassurance that our product will actually work with their TV. When a human answers the phone, it helps alleviate some of that concern.
Ahh interesting. So would you say that the consumers are insecure because of the competing technologies (active versus passive) or is the brand really the issue, because customers don’t really know/care about the technology behind it anyway?
I would say that part of the wariness to purchasing a 3D TV is because of the technology “war” between active and passive. The average consumer likely wants to wait until a standard is decided upon. We saw something very similar to this just a few years back with the battle between HD DVD and Blu Ray.
There is less of an issue with brand recognition once the consumer actually owns a 3DTV. Sure there will be the die hard Sony/Samsung/Panasonic customer who will only buy from those brands, but the average consumer wants something a quality product at an affordable price.
Ok. So, what’s next for Dimensional Optics?
We are looking to help solve the problem of finding 3D content. We already have a monthly newsletter highlighting the newest 3D Blu Ray releases, 3D movies in cinema, and 3D games that are released each month. We may expand on this idea and make the information regarding more accessible on our website.
I love what you guys are doing! Torsten, thanks for the exclusive