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.

The world's largest consumer electronics show, CES, will take place next week in Las Vegas (January 8-11). CES always brings us interesting OLED announcements - new products, new technologies and new prototypes - and hopefully this year won't be different. CES 2012 was very exciting - LG and Samsung unveiled their 55" OLED TVs for the first time, getting rave reviews. OLED was actually the most twitted term at CES...

Samsung OLED TVs, CES 2012

We do expect both Samsung and LG to show their OLED TVs again at CES. LG already announced they will bring a new OLED TV model, promising better technology and design (the new panel now weighs just 3.5 Kg). Samsung hasn't said anything official yet, but they are expected to show the TVs again, maybe with a newer model as well. Hopefully this time the two Korean companies will announce pricing and launch plans.

Back in November 2012 Samsung announced that they sold over 5 million Galaxy Note II phones worldwide in less than 3 months, and now we hear that the company sold over one million Note II phones in South Korea alone. Samsung is on track to sell 10 million units by the end of Q1 2013, just four or five months since launching the phone in September 2012. This is a great success for Samsung.

The Note II has a 5.5" HD Super AMOLED display (1280x720, non-Pentile), a quad-core 1.6Ghz processor and a large 3,100mAh battery. It's only 9.4mm thick. It's available for AT&T ($250), and also unlocked in the US for $775 (international version).