Sony XEL-1 OLED TV To Arrive In Europe By 2009

I don’t really understand why Sony is pushing this little television so hard. The XEL-1 is a first generation mass production OLED TV delevoped by Sony that costs thousands of dollars and is only 11.1 inches. It costs ¥200,000 (US$1,829) in Japan and around US$2,500 in the U.S. While I adore Japan’s technological obsession with everything tiny, the XEL-1 just doesn’t make sense. It’s obvious that OLED is expensive to mass produce, but shouldn’t they have released something in the 20-30 inch range to start off with rather than this?

My Sony Vaio VGN-TX651 is a tiny ultraportable laptop with a similiar sized screen, and I honestly couldn’t imagine watching TV often on such a display. Even if you had the device in a kitchen or some other high-traffic room the cost doesn’t justify the use. It truly is the ultimate conversation piece, but like alot of other first-generation Sony products, a toy for those with too much money. I guess the million to one contrast ratio is nice, but do you think that most consumers would find that more appealing than overall size?

Nonetheless, the XEL-1 will be available in Europe in 2009, which should be announced at the upcoming August 29th IFA show in Berlin.

Information courtesy of PC World.