Optimus keyboard box design, pre-order date

Art. Lebedev Studio has announced an official shipment date for its Optimus Maximus OLED-based keyboard, and an official box design has surfaced after just one model appeared on display at the Wired Store in SoHo, New York. The long-awaited custom-configurable keyboard obtained a spot on Wired's Vaporware '06 list – vaporware being a term applied to a much-anticipated product that never sees the light of day – but now, ironically, is on display at the publication's store in SoHo, New York. While the keyboard is designed for anyone, Art. Lebedev says that the keyboard will cost approximately $1600US when it is officially released, making it too expensive for most people to consider.

The Optimus Maximus is a keyboard constructed entirely of small LCD panels, one for each key on the keyboard, that are each capable of displaying 65,000 colors. Users are able to configure the keys to display any number of different images, from different language sets, to game icons and Photoshop tools. They keyboard will ship with a 512MB flash card for users to store key sets, and can be swapped or carried around to other Optimus keyboards. Pre-orders for the luxury keyboard will allegedly begin on December 12th, and it is compatible with Macs and PCs, with 10.4.8 and XP/Vista being the respective minimum requirements.