Sony XEL-1 OLED TV lands in the UK, now twice the price
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jan 28th 2009 1:41AM
posted Jan 28th 2009 1:41AM
Bad news: It'll cost Brits £3,489 (about $4,944) -- that's more than twice the price of the same set sold in the US.
Look, we knew the European price hikes were coming from Sony in 2009, but we weren't expecting this. Then again, if you're the type who thinks dropping a couple of thousand Quid on an 11-inch television makes sense, well, you probably won't even notice.
[Via OLED-Display]
Does Sony know what a recession is? Or is this an attention-seeking campaign?
I wonder if those 16000 employees getting fired know that these kind of products Sony has been showing for a couple of years are the reason the are hitting the curb...
this kind of European pricing is exactly why Sony is led themselves to such high profit losses
- because there is trying to position yourself as a premium brand....
...... and there is attempting to a**-rape your own consumers to the extent where you completely price yourself out of the competition.
SMOKEY!! thank you for reposting that site. i forgot how to get to it.
anyways, if your crazy enough to spend money on an 11 inch TV (guys this is slightly bigger than those photoframes LAWL) i hope you get ripped off. Good job Sony screw the rich bastards.
Europeans use to pay the same price in US to Euros meaning that when something costs 100US$ Europe pays 100Euros that's a +30% to +50% by time... Not that is was FAIR... or OK...
but a +100% is a total screw.
I know the pound is a bit screwed right now....but come on! Why hike the price in an already pricey area...
I don't think they really want to sell it in UK. Because if you guys buy the XEL-1 from Japan (which is about 200,000 yen, which is 1 600 gbp) you save more than half the price.
And if I'm not wrong, 200,000 was the introduction price. I'm sure they go for less now.
That's probably why my Sony stuff is bought from USA. But it is not only Sony that use Europe for profit. There are many example of goods that is cheaper if you buy an airline ticket (even at full price) and pick it up yourself in USA or better - somewhere in Asia.
I don't even think the queen would drop that kinda cash. Seriously, Sony, why bother?
I wonder what their sales expectations are. Single figure sales would be my guess.
Well I relly don`t think many of us Brits will be buying one so it`s all academic really!
regardless of the new tech, just how much would you pay for an 11" TV?
If the world wasn't the worst world financial crisis ever, I would find that second job to afford one of these, like they recommended for the Playstation 3.
Where is the Ugly News???
Hahaha the photo is so appropriate. They UK economy is bleeding like it's having a menstrual. Instead of showing some sense by keeping prices low as possible, Sony hikes up this TV and the Vaio P to prices that are beyond this planet.
And Sony is wondering why they are losing money... wow... just wow.
They are not wondering my friend. They have about 100,000 times more employees than you have (you have 1, possibly even half depending on your brain) if you know how why their loosing money i am sure that they do.
You are right, their loosing money is what is causing them to lose money.
That's just crazy, even at the US price it's not worth it, but twice that price is ridiculous.
No problem, Sony.... The last time I bought any of your products has been well over 5 years ago. I used to own lots of Sony products, but with your ridiculous prices, your proprietary crap such as Memorystick that you try to force down peoples throats and the fact that your competitors like Samsung, LG and Panasonic make products that are at least on par if not better, without all the proprietary crap means I have plenty of choice.
the economy is the REASON that it's twice as much.
I can get just over half as many dollars for my pound now, and if I add VAT it will make it double.
Sucks to be a traveller or an importer from or in the UK now, I've had to delay my next US holiday till things settle down a bit
No. It only costs about $1700 At even the current awful exchange rate, this thing shouldn't cost more than £2000 including VAT. Back when we had two dollars to the pound it would've cost about £1000. It's a bad joke.
Went to Americaland last May when the rate was 1.9x $/£ but didn't swap my spare dollars back until December. Made a tidy sum from it :)
I've been lucky so far with the economy in that it has been good to me by driving petrol prices down to what they were a couple of years ago, and the above. Although i've just learnt that Findus is shutting up shop so i've been stocking up on their macaroni cheese (best stuff out there save home made).
Good job I took a year in industry last year otherwise i'd be right in the middle of the mess that the banking tossers put us in...people have asked me why I don't trust banks for years, now they know why. I feel sorry for the guys having it hard out there (like the axed Sony employees) but for Sony themselves, I couldn't care less.
Sony, when will you learn, ffs?
That's ridiculous! How ridiculous I hear you ask. Well it's cheaper for me to Fly to New York from London this Saturday, spend the night in a hotel, buy the TV and fly back the next day! £345.20 + £80 + £1749.62 = £2174.42 That a saving of £1314.58! or $1881.81
I assume the TV doesn't weigh much but let's you may have to pay a little excess, plus transport costs and food. Maybe another £200? That's still over a £1000 saving
Even if you get nabbed at Customs for import tax, that's still a ~£750 saving.
Clearly Sony thought this out long and hard....
Quote taken verbatim from Sony Rep:
"At this very top end of the market, these sort of products are almost recession proof.”
Fool.
I am surprised nobody has mentioned the price of PS3 in Europe compared to the US/Japan!
PS3 80gb UK launch price = US$827
PS3 80gb US launch price = US$558
This is the rip-off Britain after all :D
Anyway, it doesn't matter whether the XEL-1 costs twice or 10000 times in Europe than the rest of the world, its not like they are going to sell any anyway!
I was waiting for someone to pick up on that. UK prices are always high - but they blame it on 15% tax and the fact we use a different mains plug (yep - sony used that!) - it doesn't account for such a massive hike everytime.
Every company does it, but Sony's the worst, we got screwed over the PS3 and people soooo quickly forgot.. Forget it Sony, I'm moving my love to someone else.
correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't it because the EU are putting tarriffs on basically everything? and not to mention tough regulatory controls and standards
A two thousand dollar tarriff?
Price probably includes VAT as well as the other mindless fees the Brits pay.
VAT is 15%, not 100%
Although some retailers have been recently getting their VAT wrong. Maybe Sony just can't do maths?
Anti-crawl; you think you don't pay a tax on purchases? Where do you live exactly?
People don't pay sales tax in Hong Kong!
It's more likely to be the Jap Jen thats the issue, it has halved in value against the £ in the last few months, going from 2.55 to the £ in June 2008 to about 1.25 to the £ now......I work in an industry that imports goods from Japan, and believe me that make a MASSIVE difference.
You also need to factor in import duty and tax levels, and that UK SRP includes VAT, where typical US prices exclude tax.
Yeah, I'm glad someone has made this point. It's crazy that the pound buys literally half the amount of Yen it did last year. I think a lot of Japanese tech will increase in price more than people realise if things continue. It doesn't matter where they make the stuff (China) if companies like Sony have a bunch of Japanese people on the payroll wanting Yen.
it has been on sale quite some time here in Spain - at least in the sony style store in Barcelona.
Price? €4999
XD
Well, the Pound is almost on pair with the Euro, so it is not a surprise. I'll have to look for one of these. I want to check the wonders of OLED first hand.
how is it big news that something costs more in the UK than in the US? Stuff has always been expensive here and recently the value of the yen has gone up and the pound has gone way down + it's an introductory price so this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Besides, in the UK people don't seem to mind paying more for things even if the quality is crappy, look at London's public transport system. The people who set prices here don't give half a shit about the consumers, you know we have to pay extra taxes for the olympics?
You really can't compare this TV to the London public transport, they're completely different. There is pretty much no feasible alternative to the public transport here in London other than a car (which costs thousands and thousands of pounds) or taxi (which is a complete rip off). Millions of people have no choice but to ride the London public transport. TVs are luxury goods, especially this OLED TV. Completely different.... Luxury vs. Necessity.
11-inch is enough to nail some chick.
It's the FX rate between yen and sterling that's relevant, not the dollar and sterling. Sterling has crashed much further against the yen than it has against the dollar. I just tried looking up the price (in sterling) to replace my printer's toners. Did I get a nasty surprise, they've gone up 40%! Can somebody recommend me a printer not made by a Japanese firm?
Footballers bathrooms need only apply.
Of course if you do buy it from Japan/US, the tuner won't work in the UK...
Did anybody really buy one of these to actually use as a TV? I get the impression most were bought to be taken apart and to test actual lifetimes rather than to be used as intended.
Goes for whole Europe not only UK. It's always been like that for everything.
Just done a search on the Japanese website kakaku.com, and you can buy the XEL-1 for 160,000 yen. In pounds at the current (rubbish) exchange rate that's around £1250. So nearly a 3x mark-up, nice one Sony. That's why you're doing so well. Got to make back some money somehow eh, so why not just screw the Brits over a bit more.
enough with the depression era pics already. If you havent experienced poverty before, it isnt something to giggle over whilst your getting aroused at pictures of gadgets. As for the the price tag: ugh :(
People, you all fail to realize Sony's strategy: if they manage to sell 1 in the UK, they have already paid for the whole shipment. They can keep the rest on exposition and still make money. And what if they sell 2? The whole Sony UK branch is profitable!
This isn't at all surprising.
Sony pricing in the UK has always been eye-poppingly high, with significant premiums required over comparatively-specced TVs, hi-fis, DVD/Blu-Ray players etc.
Just look at the ludicrous pricing of the new Vaio P "I'm not a netbook" netbook - in the US, the top-spec model with 128GB SSD is sold by SonyStyle for $1499; in the UK, the price is the equivalent of just under $2000. Things aren't much better at 'entry level' with even the basic Vaio P models being sold at a far higher price than in the US.
That said, the pricing of the OLED screen totally eclipses all that - one has to wonder what Sony's on at the moment.
Oled is cheaper to produce the led so why does it cost more
I'll never understand Sony's pricing. Maybe it's to pay the bonuses for their marketing execs. *sarcasm*
I realize that any technology requires items like this to pop up before the prices and the value are acceptable, but really, Sony? First the Vaio P "ultraportable", and now this? Do you actually intend to make MONEY, or do you just "aspire" to do so?
Holy crap, how much :O. Typical Sony and UK stunt though :|.