Optimus Maximus Finally Available

Despite the fact that Optimus Maximus keyboard was not to be seen at CeBIT, as Art Lebedev said it wasn't ready yet, things seem to be just fine with the production. The OLED keyboard was displayed at the Wired Store in New York in a fully operational form.

The Optimus blog makes sure that people stay up to date with the latest news, ranging from box design to a flash demo of the keyboard. That's understandable, since people waiting for their literally precious keyboards want to know how much longer they have to stay on hold. The good news is that the delivery terms have been respected, luckily for those who have been on queue since April.

"[First batch] orders will be shipping from December to January, depending on production speed. New lot is set to arrive in the second part of February 2008," said Artemy Lebedev, the head of the design studio.

The keys feature 32x32 mini Organic LED screens fastened under transparent caps. The screen can render the whole color palette and the keys can be morphed via software in order to take any shape or image. The displays remain fixed under the plastic cap, while the key-presses are executed by a sleeved mechanism wrapped around them. The OLEDs have an estimated lifetime of maximum 5 years, depending of the frequency of use. Spare keys will be available, with prices around $10 each.

The company will start shipping the first lot of keyboards starting the 30th of November, but, as production continues, Art Lebedev estimated that December would bring another 200 units, while other 400 would see daylight in late January 2008. Rumor has it that the production process is being delayed by the OLEDs lacking from the market.

Unfortunately, not only the project name has been modified from Optimus 103 to Optimus Maximus, but also the retail price. The maximus keyboard is more than a peripheral, it's a collector's pick, which reflects in the final $1516.

The Art Lebedev Studios have already announced that they are considering lower-feature keyboards to cost under $1000 but they have not given further details about the availability date or their feature-list. Even so, we are sure that the online sellers will soon be swarming with overpriced designer keyboards.