Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV landing in Europe in 2009? Too little, too late.

Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports this morning that Sony plans to sell its 11-inch XEL-1 OLED TV in Europe in 2009. That dovetails nicely with a two-week old statement by a Sony representative who said, "I'd be very surprised if this hasn't arrived in the UK by 2009." Us too, after all, it's been on sale in Japan since December of 2007 and was recently caught slumming the big box outlets in the US. It only seems natural then, that Sony would ramp production to the point that by 2009 they could meet the minimal, European demand for a $2,500-ish TV measuring just 11-inches -- million:1 contrast or not. Still, it's all a bit late if you ask us (you did right?) seeing as how Sony plans to be producing medium to large OLED panels as early as April 2009.

[Via AVING]

Read -- Europe 2009
Read -- UK 2009

[pete @ Aug 13th 2008 2:05AM]

I'm surprise Sony even sells this display for a desktop. I would think there would be a bigger market for the big pockets to have an OLED laptop screen.

I can't imagine the peeps the cash to spend the bucks on an 11" desktop screen. The peeps with cash are mobile.

[Britboyj27 @ Aug 13th 2008 2:26AM]

Dude, it's a TV, not a monitor.

[macserv @ Aug 13th 2008 10:04AM]

Maybe because there's nothing else like it on the planet. It may be small and expensive, but it's the most amazing picture you've ever seen. You have to see it to believe it... OLED is awesome.

And it's not, "too late," Engadget, unless there's another 11"-or-bigger display available right now to consumers that I somehow missed. April 2009 is still 8 months away, and, if history is to be our teacher, that date will slip.

[Nietzche @ Aug 13th 2008 2:20AM]

Of course, those medium-to-large oled TV's will hit Japan first, and then the US, only to slowly, possibly.. oh I don't know.. two years later find their way onto the european market.

[Alex @ Aug 13th 2008 2:23AM]

Can someone please explain as to why almost all companies take ages to release products in other countries?

I'm curious... I thought if something is ready to be sold in one country, then technically speaking it would be ready for all countries. Just change the voltage and language...

[waiownsyou @ Aug 13th 2008 2:29AM]

It's not just the translation that needs to be grammatically perfect (unlike cheap products) but a lot of countries have different standards (which means change in hardware, ranging from a power outlet to a lot of chips internally). Plus major technological countries like Japan and the US are more likely to purchase 'em.

[j_g_puff @ Aug 13th 2008 5:27AM]

Unfortunately, Alex, there's way more to it than that. As well has having to comply with the relevant regulations (i.e. FCC, CE etc) in the target country as Wei says, the companies have to consider production and distribution issues. To introduce a product to the US you need to be able to produce it in large quantities - there's no point in releasing if you can only build 3 per month. Also, they need to think about how it fits in with their local product lines and competitors - multinationals often have different lines (and marketing strategies) for each geographical region.

Finally, they will often test the water by allowing limited release in one region or country. After evaluating sales/product costs, tweaking production processes and determining the best marketing strategies they can then decide how and when wider releases should be made.

No doubt there are a load of other things I don't know about, but be assured that an awful lot of thought has gone into the the products that you see for sale in your local Best Buy.

[Elvis @ Aug 13th 2008 7:58AM]

Japan Company's first TEST the products in there own countries, then, after all reviews and updated of the product, they HIT BIG the other countries. That why when you say "japan" you thing "quality".

[waiownsyou @ Aug 13th 2008 2:27AM]

I've seen this at a local SonyStyle. It was extremely unnoticeable. And 11" is NOT big. My laptop has a bigger screen, but damn that's some awesome technology. Its width is about two credit cards stacked together.... too bad it has a huge base on the bottom :(

[Rogan josh @ Aug 13th 2008 2:29AM]

Where's the "awsomeness" to this technology? have you ever prised apart a monitor? The LCD is waaay thin anyway...it's just neat packaging

[Dillon @ Aug 13th 2008 2:43AM]

I dunno, this TV is a little thin for me. If a burgler breaks into my house, he could potentially use it as a weapon and cut me with it.

[white_ultras @ Aug 13th 2008 4:34AM]

been that 15% lose of color gamut over 3 month fixed yet?

[Amrit @ Aug 13th 2008 5:07AM]

the cutting jus gave me an idea... so when sammy or panny come out with their own super slim oleds... will their CEOs or CTO cut a cake with this too ?

[j_g_puff @ Aug 13th 2008 5:32AM]

Rogan,

Although the LCD panel itself is thin, the light source required to illuminate it is not. That's why your TV is more than 3mm thick. An OLED's light source is integrated into the panel, which is why such a thin display is possible. To emphasise the thinness, Sony crammed the power conditioning and processing into a fat base.

The awesomeness comes primarily from the fact that backlighting is not required, which conveniently means that an obscenely high contrast ratio is achievable (because the light is produced at each pixel site, black pixels can produce no light rather than having to block the light from a backlight. This allows truly black blacks.)

[BowserUSC @ Aug 13th 2008 2:28AM]

I'm really shocked. I just thought that Japan started out with everything, then Europe got it, then the Middle East and once a new product is released to replace it we get the old one in the US. Most definitely like that in the cell phone market.

[Ron @ Aug 13th 2008 2:47AM]

Ive seen it at Sony Style here in Las Vegas. I must say it's an amazing T.V. and I wish I was crazy enough to spend $2,500 on something so small. I can't wait to see how ridiculously high prices are on bigger OLED displays.

[TakTak @ Aug 13th 2008 3:15AM]

Hold on I'm in Romania (in the EU) and the local Sony Center stores have this on display and will sell it to you and deliver in 6 weeks.

Normal retail stores don't have it but Sony has no problem selling it in their own stores.

[Ethan @ Aug 13th 2008 3:59AM]

I saw one in Heathrow a while ago. Definitely the best television I've ever seen.

[charles @ Aug 13th 2008 10:18AM]

Meh.

The big thing about OLEDs for desktop monitors and TVs, if it ever happens, is that theoretically should be cheaper than LCDs. You can make them using inkjet printing and even screen printing techniques, and there's lower materials cost.

For mobile applications they are also thinner and use less power (no backlight needed)

And in all they have better color and contrast range, better viewing angles, better temperature range.

And they can be made transparent, where they are already used for things like aircraft HUDs.

[boe @ Aug 13th 2008 10:32AM]

Wake me up when they start selling 80" OLEDs. Hard to justify replacing a 65" with something even smaller. I prefer my HT over going to the movies however when I have guests it would be nice to have a bigger display.

[notjoel @ Aug 13th 2008 11:58AM]

I saw the Sony XEL-1 OLED TV at a Sony Style in Heathrow airport about 2 weeks ago, I'd go on a hunch and say that it's already in the UK.....
http://students.washington.edu/notjoel/media/PICS-0040.jpg
(high-quality picture from my Samsung Blackjack)