We have some good news and some bad news Optimus fanboys, which do you want first? The bad news? Ok, here goes: the Optimus isn't being shown at CeBIT after all. Yeah, we know, we just caught a huge whiff of rather depressing vapor, but what can you do? If it's not ready to show it's not ready to show. Oh, and if that's not a boot to the gut then how 'bout this: it's not $1,200 anymore... it's now $1,490. Ouch! Pre-orders start in April with delivery in November/December 2007. Still, there was a bit of good news that came from our meeting with Artemy Lebedev and Dimitry Tosy here at CeBIT in Hannover. First, the Optimus 103 gets a name change. While we were hoping for the Optimus Prime (there's more than meets the eye), it looks like they've settled on Optimus Maximus (the god of gods). Also, all the keys will in fact be OLED with an expected life span of only 5 years, depending upon use of course. Each 32 x 32 resolution OLED will remain stationary. Instead, the key-press mechanics are executed by a plastic cap which slides around the display like a sleeve to keep the wear and tear on the OLEDs to a minimum. Break a key? No problem, replacements will be offered for $10 a pop. Sorry, no freebies in the box like your Xmas tree lights -- we tried. And if you think that $1,490 is a bit too pricey for a 5-year keyboard, take heart: "two or three" additional keyboards are in the works with fewer programmable keys and a sub $1,000 price tag.

We all know how many keys the 103 key keyboard has, but it looks like Lebedev's long-awaited Optimus has been undergoing some serious retooling for its CeBIT coming out, and from the sound of it they may have dropped some keys from the board. We won't be sure until later this month when the Optimus takes home a new name and shows off its latest layout, but for $1200 we sure as hell hope they've managed to add some more of those sweet, sweet 2 x 2cm OLED keys -- or subtract some hard currency from the working MSRP. Oh yeah, and in case you hadn't noticed, they've got yet another mouth-watering photo of some yet-untainted shapeshifting keys.

[Thanks, Nicholas M]

Art Lebedev and company have apparently been pretty busy with the Optimus, readying it for show at CeBIT this month. According to Art's LJ, they've been hard at working optimizing the key sizes and shapes for interchangeability; they're now down to three size, which should come in handy when keys start dying off and you don't want to run to the store for another $1200 keyboard. That late-2007 deadline is still in effect, so ogle at the potential, and cross your fingers for the waiting to come to an end.

[Thanks, Nicholas M]

We know it's only the software precursor to what looks like it might still be the ultimate interface device, but holy hotness does the Optimus-103 Configurator just completely re-whet our appetites to get our hands on one. Of course, besides your selection of languages, there are also plug-in macro sets which change the keys based on the app currently being used, and the context in which you're using it. We know we should never get our hopes up, but who can help gnoshing on pics like these?

[Thanks, Nicholas M.]

After some rough times a few months back in Art Lebedev land, all seems to be as it should be of late: they feed us hype, we eat it up, everybody wins! We're particularly partial (read: brainwashed) by this latest development on the Optimus 103 keyboard front. Apparently those spiffy OLED keys will come swappable, and Lebedev is planning on offering several configurations of the keyboard to cut down on price, letting you replace standard keys with OLED versions as your pocketbook allows. There might be three types of keys to choose from when all is said and done: OLED keys, backlit keys and standard "dumb" plastic keys. Configurations could include just OLED function keys, all letter keys getting the OLED treatment, and full-on OLED craziness for the big spenders. Seems a reasonable compromise, now let's see it in action!

[Via SlashGear]

After a whole lotta public outcry, not to mention our own fair share of whining over here on Engadget, the Art Lebedev peeps are Doing The Right Thing and switching the Optimus 103 back to color keys. It's naturally going to take a bit longer like this, since this new no-compromises model -- or, at least not that compromise -- will be based on some not-quite-ready-for-prime-time OLEDs. Right now the new plan is for pre-orders to take place in February 2007, instead of December 12th, and the price is still up in the air, but we get the impression Art Lebedev could've either cut features until they had an overpriced hunk of plastic nobody wants, or taken this tack, which involves a few more months of waiting, and most likely a few more dollars, but should be worth it in the long run.

[Thanks, Jimmy D.]

For as much feature slashing and resulting public outcry involved in getting this thing out the door for a "reasonable price," it sure didn't amount to much: Art Lebedev just announce its uber-hyped Optimus 103 keyboard will debut in May of 2007 for $1,200. That's twelve hundies, for those keeping track at home, ten times the current price of the Optimus mini three 1.5. Sure, nobody expected this thing to be cheap, but $1,200 might be asking a bit much. Luckily, prices will be dropping to a "mere" sub-grand in September of 2007, and at that rate we'll be able to afford one of these things right around the time that thought-based typing becomes the input method of choice. Well, at least our dreams of keyboard heaven were fun while they lasted. If you're just crazy enough to try it, you can pre-order the keyboard on December 12th.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

More like Let-Down-imus. The danger of running such a hype-fueled organization as Art Lebedev is that if you find you can't deliver, you're pretty much screwed. After sparking a bit of a public outcry a couple of weeks ago when they chopped off those 11 "launcher" keys (pictured) on the left of the keyboard, and then again when they chopped the actual screen size to just the top half of the key, Art Lebedev has delivered what could be a knock out blow to its flagship Optimus 103 keyboard by announcing the keys will be merely black and white. Right now we're going to assume the worst and figure that these keys -- which might feature some OLED tech after all -- will be straight monochrome, not grayscale, and we're sure they're going to be about one tenth as shiny as they started in those beautiful concept pics of yore. We suppose it could all come down to the price, which will be announced on December 12th, but we're already thinking about just holding out for the color 113 version, which is still slated for eventual release.

[Via SlashGear]

Reporting on the Optimus-103 keyboard is rapidly becoming one of our guilty pleasures -- guilty because the Optimus guys seem averse to giving us anything more than tiny nuggets of information at a time, and pleasure because... well, we shouldn't have to explain why the Optimus-103 is intriguing to us. The latest piece of news from the Optimus project is an announcement that the company will be taking pre-orders for the Optimus-103 on December 12. That will hopefully also mean an unveiling of the price, and if we're lucky, some specifications for the keyboard. We're not getting our hopes up though, because these guys could reveal nothing and still fill their pre-order slots.

[Via Slashgear]

It's hard work to keep the juices flowing for a product whose design struck our Pavlovian bell more than a year ago. Especially when all we're getting is a picture of a single, non-OLED prototype key released just last week. That (LCD?) key will hopefully, someday, replicate itself a la the grey goo and become the Optimus 103 keyboard, you know, the wireless slab which features 113 103 contextual keys which can be mapped to different functions within applications or simply act as animated, informational widgets. We've just learned that the device will appear to your system as a USB mass storage device with all those custom mappings stored right in the keyboard. That should allow you to take the keyboard anywhere, to any PC, with your application specific layouts in tow without the need to install any pesky drivers. Promises, promises. *blots mouth*

[Via SlashGear]