I watched all of the videos and it's still a tie to me. Akia works with other VSTs and has pads, Kontrol has Arp and Chord support and apparently a nicer keybed, etc.
 
They aren't the same, but it's hard to pick one over the other.

Yep, I've watched the vids and researched both - each have their plusses & minuses.
 
Still a tie.
 

I just ordered the Komplete Kontrol S61. Looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about... :)

Komplete Kontrol definitely has the better keyboard. Which is quite essential. For a keyboard.

It shore duz light up pretty!!!! :)

Finally had a chance to use it - WOW. For the first time I actually was able to play a Kontakt instrument! I was never quite sure how the colored zones worked in the UI. Having the keyboard light them up made it dead simple to experiment. 
 
I'm going to have huge fun - and I think produce some interesting stuff - thanks to this keyboard.

Way to go, James!

smallstonefan
Finally had a chance to use it - WOW. For the first time I actually was able to play a Kontakt instrument! I was never quite sure how the colored zones worked in the UI. Having the keyboard light them up made it dead simple to experiment. 
 
I'm going to have huge fun - and I think produce some interesting stuff - thanks to this keyboard.

 
Ditto!!
I just jumped in myself with a S61 keyboard, and so far I'm REALLY liking the hardware AND the capabilities when adding Komplete Kontrol.  Several 3rd-party plugins have been added to the NKS-supported list thanks to the efforts of some talented folks on the NI forums, and it appears that at least one person is working on adding Z3TA+2 to the list!
 
I guess at some point I need to start playing with Komplete Kontrol as a Sonar plugin ~
So far, I've been spending most of my time just exploring all the NI and 3rd-party presets I always overlooked in the past... 
 
RR

My main intrest is the light guide for key switches so the NI keyboards are attractive. I wish there was a longer board with the synth keys. I don't really want piano style weighted keys but I would like more than 61 keys fo accomodate keyswitches better. If there was a 73 note synth key version I would have bought it by now.
 
Does anyone know if instruments that do not support Komplete Kontrol can have their Keyswitches mapped manually by the user?

Glyn Barnes
My main intrest is the light guide for key switches so the NI keyboards are attractive. I wish there was a longer board with the synth keys. I don't really want piano style weighted keys but I would like more than 61 keys fo accomodate keyswitches better. If there was a 73 note synth key version I would have bought it by now.
 
Does anyone know if instruments that do not support Komplete Kontrol can have their Keyswitches mapped manually by the user?

+1 on the 88 synth keys. 
As for the light guide, at first I thought it was a Casio-kidstyle gimmick. Obviously not.
Glyn, check out the NI forum for user made mappings (https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/mapping-templates-for-non-nks-plugins.262959/).