Art Lebedev Selling ‘Budget’ OLED Keyboard December 6, 2007
Read more Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , PC , Peripherals
You may remember the innovative Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard from Russian designer, Art Lebedev. You may also remember that it took longer than a round trip to the moon on a firework to arrive and, that it cost an eye-watering £790.
Yes, £790 for a keyboard. It must be the festive season of goodwill in Russia though because Art has announced some ‘budget’ versions of the OLED keyboard. Now you can get one for just £230, although for that you get just one measly OLED – the Space Bar. This is what Art says on the site:
We now have four differently priced configurations.
Beginner's kit with one active OLED space-bar (really useful to display the language used) is ~460 US$.
Advanced user's kit with 10 left-side OLED keys sells for 599 US$.
Pro user's keyboard with 47 active keys is just 999 US$.
And a superman's keyboard with all the 113 keys having OLEDs is 1564 US$, just as it has been.
Those who choose any of the configurations with passive keys (passive = without any display inside) will be able to upgrade at anytime to the active keys.
Single and 10-pack OLED sets will be available for pre-order soon. We'll have to spend some time with a calculator to figure out the best offerings. On average, one OLED key will sell for around 15 US$.
They new configurations are promised for February 2008 which means they’ll probably be ready next July.-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
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Comments
Isn't it about time someone took this to Asia to knock up their own cheaper version?
The OLED keyboard has some great potential, but the price of the technology needs to come down before anyone will really get excited enough to buy it.
All new technologies are initially expensive so this isn't that suprising, and I expect the price to come down rapidly, especially as it is a very good idea , especially for the Asian market (as Joff points out). Be interesting to see how quickly large-scale touchscreen technology in the office & home takes off, however - that could render these very cool keyboards obsolete.
wouldnt like to spill coffee on one of those
wouldnt like to spill coffee on one of those
Imagine a nice Black framed LED or OLED touchscreen, the same size as and configured to be viewable from the same angle as a keyboard! Gamers and Digital Music Artists would Rejoice! Gone would be the days of having to put up with a standard (Extended) QWERTY Layout!
It could be wipe clean, for those longer artistic or gaming sessions requiring both food and drink! You could progam it to look and work like a piano keyboard or any other layout you could imagine (Treckies the world over could rejoice in Klingon or even Borg to name but a few!).
Count me in, to be cut free of the ties of the physical keyboard. Infact I want two!
errrr, this is nuts, "one OLED key will sell for around 15 US$"
....so where do they get "one active OLED space-bar ~~ $460"
.
Thats a $440 keyboard + a $15 key + $5 wiring
errrr, this is nuts, "one OLED key will sell for around 15 US$"
....so where do they get "one active OLED space-bar ~~ $460"
.
Thats a $440 keyboard + a $15 key + $5 wiring