So far, the best thing you could say about IKEA’s media centre TV centaur was that it came with an appropriately quirky introductory video. But GigaOm’s got some actual, you know, details about the Uppleva. And they’re looking very, very appealing.
The big sell for Uppleva, of course, is that it’s chock full of internet. To be specific, IKEA’s connected TV will connect to YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, TuneIn Radio, a browser (possibly Opera for TV) and up to 15 more apps in each country it launches. Not groundbreaking, sure — Vizio and Samsung have been able to do that for some time — but appealing from a company that knows how to keep prices down.
In fact, when you consider that the Uppleva offers a screen size anywhere from 26 to 42 inches, an integrated Blu-ray player, a wireless subwoofer and a media console to stand on, the reported starting price of $US960 sounds nearly as affordable as $3 swedish meatballs. The only bad news is the wait; while a few European countries will get first dibs on Uppleva next month, IKEA won’t be storming our living rooms until 2013. [GigaOm]