Panasonic sells $70,000 HDTV as the world goes bust

In what can only be described as the world’s most ironic timing, Panasonic has begun selling it’s unbelievably huge 103″ HDTV (the TH-103PF9UK) for an even huger $69,9995.

It measures 55.9″ x 95″ x 5″ and weighs a monstrous 485lbs.. It’s not the world’s largest,as Panasonic also showed off a 105″ model at CES earlier in the year, but it is the world’s largest that’s actually on sale.

Given the current state of the economy, you can’t help but wonder whether a $70,000 TV represents the high point of a boom that’s just about to go spectacularly bust. It reminds me of the Jaguar XJ220, a supercar commissioned at the height of the late 1980s boom in the UK that went on sale in 1992 for the jaw-dropping price of £403,000 - just as the UK entered its worst recession in over a decade.

Of course, $70,000 is about a tenth the cost of the Jaguar, but it’s an eye-watering amount for an HDTV. I just hope there are still enough Russian billionaires left to buy the thing, as there won’t be many bankers going to their local Panasonic shop asking for a telly and saying “oh, don’t worry about the price!”

[Source: I4U]