P3D Re: kids and 3-D

[Brian Reynolds <reynolds@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dr. T wrote:
> 
> Will a child MAINTAIN an interest more than an adult?  I don't think
> so.  I don't know any children who collect VM reels (but know plenty
> of adults).  Children are given a VM viewer and reels for a present,
> play for it with a while and then forget about it, like they do with
> all toys.
> 

I think you have to consider the fact that View Master reels are not
generally available.

When I was a child you could find View Master reels at any toy store,
and at just about any tourist attraction your parents dragged you to.
These days it's hard to find a store where the staff even knows what a
View Master is (at least in NYC).  Except for the Sony IMAX 3D theater
(which sells the "Across the Sea of Time" reels), none of the tourist
attractions in NYC sell View Master reels.

If the child can not get new reels, she isn't going to stay interested
for too long.  I don't think you can order reels directly from View
Master anymore, and asking a child to hunt down an obscure web site to
order reels sight unseen is a bit much.

> Children see VM as a toy.  Adults see 3d as a novelty.  None will
> maintain insterest for too long.  But, there is always a new source
> of children while there is no new source of adults.  Children are
> being born all the time while adults just get older.  New children
> means new customers for 3d and that's why it makes sense to shift
> marketing to children once the product loses its novelty.  I think
> this is true for many products that can be handled by children
> (obviously stereo cameras cannot).
> 

Why don't you think children could handle a stereo camera?  There have
been plenty of cameras marketed for children.  I had a Mickey Mouse
(literally :) 110 camera as a child.  The plastic toy cameras that are
now the darlings of the artistic crowd where once sold to children.  I
had a bunch of them too, long before my Lubitels.  Mattel is currently
marketing a Barbie digital camera (that I hear has pretty good
software considering the price and the target audience).

I don't see any reason why a child couldn't handle one of the
disposable lenticular cameras, and if someone actually produced the
disposable stereo camera that Alan Lewis had on his website they could
handle that as well.

I do agree with the implication that a young child couldn't be
expected to handle a 1950s stereo camera, but I think that a modern
camera could be marketed to children.  Of course if there was enough
interest among the camera companies to market a stereo camera to
children we'd also be seeing stereo cameras marketed to adults.

-- 
Brian Reynolds     | "Dee Dee!  Don't touch that button!"
reynolds@xxxxxxxxx | "Oooh!"
NAR# 54438         |    -- Dexter and Dee Dee
                   |       "Dexter's Laboratory"


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