Imminent is a relative term, that's for sure. Imminent can mean later on this afternoon or later on this quarter. It all depends on your time frame, i.e. imminent relative to what? Needless to say, a lot of the questioning at the meeting was aimed at getting a better understanding of what "imminent" meant, and neither Fred nor Danny would provide anything firmer than they did.
AP have been pretty guarded and circumspect with regards to timing announcements. But apart from the recent unanticipated delays, they have actually been conservative but accurate in all their timing predictions. As I said in my last post nobody has ever been this way before, so nobody could provide any better guidance than has been given.
But it was impossible to not get the impression from Fred's emphasis and demeanour that by imminent he meant "really, really soon". And when Fred stresses how "imminent" the denouement is, I take note of the shift in his language from the consistent conservatism used previously. Now I think I may be being being too conservative in "guessing" he meant a matter of only a few weeks from the meeting. I would be pleased if that is when it happens, but I would also not be surprised if it is even sooner than that. But I could just as easily be reading the situation incorrectly in the wrong direction.
A couple of other tech issues raised by other recent posters:
AP has always said that the finished chips could be assembled into a multi-chip array that was controlled by the ASICs working together with the algorithms needed to coordinate them to act as a "single" speaker. Fitting such a linear array along the bezel of a screen being one immediate example used to illustrate this capability in the promotional presentations. While Danny said that there is still some development work on the algorithms to be done to ensure this all works as expected, I have little concern that getting them to act as a "phased array" is anything new to the development project.
"... Audio Pixels will produce and sell a single type of chip that can be used either as a standalone speaker or cascaded in any multiples of up to 64 units of the same chip. The number of chips used in any given application is determined by the manufacturer’s desired audio specifications, based on their target end-application and target market. For example a single chip would more than suffice for a mobile phone, while a manufacturer may choose to use between 2-6 chips for a television application. This modular paradigm is entirely unique to the audio industry, which today expends significant resources designing and specifying new drivers, acoustic chambers and drive electronics for each new device. Audio Pixels innovative approach not only facilitates maximum flexibility to its customers, it further enables the Company to calibrate on the design and production on a singular product model, maximizing economies of scale, while limiting overhead associated with multiple versions of products. ..."
The Technology presentation videos on the videos page of the AP site provide more detail at this level.
AKP Price at posting:
$16.40 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)