Audio Pixels Israel was founded in 2006. 2010/11 appears to be the point that AKP was setup in Aus (by Fred Bart) by acquiring 100% ownership of the Israeli company. As I understand it, the
original devices that were used to play "Ring of Fire" were prototype 256x256 pixels MEMS made by Audio Pixels Israel with the 'help' of either a SONY FAB or possibly by TowerJazz. I do not know who made it for sure, but the impression I acquired anecdotally was that it was from SONY. And as we see in the announcement below, SONY did produce a batch of these initial MEMS chips in June 2011. One has to presume that this MEMS device did actually work, it did play, but in the video it was a bit tinny. And yes, the mechanism was patented. Clearly it all worked well enough to persuade first Global Properties then SONY that it was a product they wanted to be involved with. It was following those early days that I became interested and bought in soon after.
As we know, there were numerous difficulties getting the thing made on a larger scale of 1024x1024 pixels. That began the long and winding R&D road that (hopefully!) will soon result in fully functional working chips that meet all the expectations from those early days. These are very different devices to the original design, showing how much work has gone into the development process.
It is easy to be cynical long after the fact and say 'it can't possibly ever work - it doesn't exist - believe me, I know', but that is clearly incorrect and false based on that early chip and the eagerness of others who saw and heard it to want to get involved.
Anyone with any experience in development of any innovative new-tech product knows only too well that the path to the finished item is strewn with obstacles and 'unknown unknowns'. This can be very disheartening to those involved, and off-putting to prospective business partners (such as SONY). While I was initially persuaded of the 'imminence' of a finished product I have not been surprised that there have been delays. But make no mistake, the basis of the company, and my optimism for it, is a chip that did what it was intended to do: play music.
Any suggestion to the contrary would require the listener to believe that the whole edifice is simply a huge deception perpetrated by very dishonest players - including SONY and various audio experts who have seen and heard the chip play - and under the full gaze of the world's financial, business and legal authorities. I do not believe that for one minute, but DYOR.
I do however tend to question the real motives of those who seem to be conducting a personal crusade to discredit the company before it has a chance to show its chip, and the closer that gets, the more continuous the campaign becomes. Again, think it all through and DYOR.
(20min delay)