So - exactly one year after unveiling the 55EM9700 LGD announced today that they are accepting pre-orders for their 55" WRGB OLED TV in Korea - with deliveries to begin in the first week of February. The price? as expected, 11 million Won (about $10,000).

LGD said that over the next several weeks they will announce launches in other markets. Obviously we expect the US to come soon, but apparently LGD is also preparing launches in Russia and China. LGD will offer the TV in over 1,400 LG retail stores in South Korea beginning tomorrow.

LG says they are "prepared to ramp up quickly to take the lead in the OLED segment". They see OLED as the "most transformational moment" in the TV industry since the introduction of the color TV 60 years ago.

The 55" 55EM9700 is a Full-HD panel that features 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio and fast response time (1,000 times faster than LCD according to LG). The panel is only 4mm thick and weighs only 3.5Kg. The OLED panel is based on LG Display's Oxide-TFT white-OLED with color filters (WRGB) OLED panel.

I first heard about OLEDs and got interested in the technology back in 1998. 15 years, and finally we have the first real commercial OLED TV available. Well done LGD, now we're waiting for Samsung to launch their own TV as well. 2013 is going to be an exciting year!