hahah! they've been out for yeeeeeeeeears, just not popular in australia. but this is where the whole frontloader thing comes into play. in europe etc, they dont have separate laundries - not enough space. so a frontloader goes in the kitchen, which is why its the same dimensions as a dishwasher! and of course, you cant do your drying outside in the middle of winter, and you dont have space anywhere in your flat for a drying rack or a dryer, so hey... make the front-loader do it!

it all makes sense in a weird european kinda way

just wait til the bosch front-loader comes out, you can program it from your computer - like tell it exactly how many half-spins to do on particular stains and rubbish like that ;)