Stuff Meets… HTC VIVE’s Thomas Dexmier on Lego Technic, moving to Australia on a whim and XR exploration…

He was Involved in XR before the first HTC VIVE was even launched, Thomas Dexmier, the Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for HTC VIVE in EMEA, has a very busy career in tech. What makes him tick? We learn about his techy childhood, moving to the other side of the world on a whim and how he recently defended the fortress of Carcassonne, in 1304…

My role is a bit of everything.

One of the great things about HTC is that we are pretty open and flat-structured. My day-to-day role is head of the EMEA region with a focus on sales and marketing, but I’m an engineer by trade so I’m involved in product development as well. I also love engaging with the media and speaking at events. So it’s quite a large remit and every day is different.

As a kid I was obsessed with Lego Technic.

I always loved physics and building little things. Then I discovered computing thanks to my dad. He wa an engineer, which I thought was a very cool name for a job so I thought I would be an engineer too. He worked with the original Apple Macintosh SE, which he brought home a couple of times. They called it portable but he couldn’t even carry it! He also came home with a cellphone in the early ’90s, and once my sister and I got an Amstrad CPC 6128 for Christmas. We used to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons.

The HTC Vive Focus 3 VR headset is literally soaring…in space.

At the back end of 2023, we launched VR headsets on the International Space Station. The Vive Focus 3 has been used by Danish astronauts for an experiment into how VR can improve their mental health. It’s a very noble cause.

I moved to Australia on a whim.

In 2010 my wife and I gave up everything we had in Paris, packed, bought return tickets to Sydney… and never used the return. From the minute I set foot on Aussie ground, our life was changing for the better and before I knew it an employer gave me a chance. That was HTC, who were the up-and-coming smartphone brand. We got work visas, permanent residency, first child, citizenship, second child… I was given the chance to move to tech account management, product marketing, head of sales and then country manager.

I’ll never forget the chance HTC gave me.

It was a bit of a gamble for them, hiring this French guy who had no history in the country and could barely speak English. Having proper conversations with people coming from all around the world with very thick accents was like, “Wow, what is this place?” This is a life that we have created for ourselves and we are just so proud of it. This is who I am now – my dual cultural background is important. Then in 2023 an opportunity came up to take on bigger responsibilities in Europe. It was the right time for us, the end of a cycle with kids growing up and stars aligning for us to come closer to our European heritage; this is why I’m now in Bordeaux.

All industries are looking into extended reality.

We’re getting to a point now where, if people can imagine something, it can be built in VR – we’ve seen this across healthcare, defence, manufacturing, gaming, arts, culture, education, you name it. I think one of the biggest breakthroughs was when one of our partners in France, called Excurio, managed to have 120 active users at the same time, freely roaming in a 600m2 space, interacting.

Arts and culture with immersive tech is one of my favourite things.

Recently I was defending the fortress of Carcassonne… in 1304. I’m very happy to report that we successfully saved the town, and then I took a short journey in a taxi to rediscover the lost gardens of the Palace of Versailles. The power of XR in this case is to be able to reproduce parts of the gardens that don’t exist any more, based on archives.

There’s room for innovation in foldable phones.

Before having kids I used to buy all sorts of tech, but now I have to be a bit wiser and set a good example, so I focus on things that are important to me. So, a foldable phone… I was keeping my eye on the Samsungs and I waited for the Z Fold5; now I don’t think I’ll ever go back. For both productivity and personal stuff it’s fantastic. I have a lot of fun with it.

I got a Samsung Galaxy Watch7 to minimise phone time at the weekends.

I got my first smartwatch for Christmas last year – I’d had a Fitbit before but was not overly impressed. I use the watch for fitness and keeping up with all the happenings in my social sphere, specifically on weekends, without having to pull out my phone all the time – we already do that way too much.

I drive a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

Coming from the other side of the planet, where Japanese hybrid cars have had such success over the years, I’m proud to fly the flag for Asian hybrids in Europe. It’s got everything we need and is decently priced. If I had money to spend, I’d buy the Renault 5 E-Tech. Good memories… but I don’t need it!

My hobbies have to help me

I go kitesurfing in summer and snowboarding in winter. You can’t do these things while looking at your watch, texting or emailing, because you need so much focus. I also love a good DIY project, from gardening to fixing and building stuff with my hands. I’d love to be a carpenter in a carpenter in a different life.

Visit HTC VIVE here.