Matsushita (usually known as Panasonic), have developed an ultra-thin speaker called the “Sound Slim”. Conventional speakers have a cylindrical arrangement of the voice coil and magnet, whereas the Sound Slim speakers has the voice coil placed horizontally between two permanent magnets, which results in reduction in size of about 3/4 the thickness and 1/2 the width compared to a conventional speaker.
Read the press release on the Matsushita web site.